TEACHING PHYSIOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 517 



quently met with. " The times for "bathing depend on the age 

 of, location of and heat of the individual." 



The bad spelling so frequently found in these note-books 

 shows, of course, ignorance or carelessness, either being repre- 

 hensible. Qi^sophagus is spelled " esofergus/' " ecophagus," 

 "sasofagus," " esolpusgult," "sarcophagus," " desophagus." The 

 pancreas is spoken of as " the pangueous," or " the pantheis " ; the 

 parotid or salivary glands as the " perodic," " the galviatory and 

 savilary glands," " the spiratory glands." The cerebrum is " the 

 big brain, or celebra " ; the cerebellum, " the little brain, or se- 

 dula." Suture-joints are " sucher-" joints. Hygiene is " hygine/' 

 or " hygene." Adipose is " adicose " ; sweat is " swett " ; osseous 

 is "oscius"; cancellous tissue is "tenselous"; thoracic duct is 

 " carasse duck," and so on. 



Enough illustrations have now been given of the ignorance 

 and carelessness of pupils in regard to anatomical, physiological, 

 and hygienic knowledge to warrant us in saying, when taken in 

 connection with the character of some of the text-books in use, 

 that in many schools these subjects are improperly taught. But 

 it will be said by some : " The fact that such and such text-books 

 are unreliable in pictures and text does not prove that the teachers 

 using them are guided by the unreliable material, and also the 

 fact of faulty and absurd answers by pupils does not prove that 

 these very pupils do not have a very fair general idea of the sub- 

 jects they were questioned upon." Our answer is, that until 

 teaching becomes, with the majority of female teachers especially, 

 something more than a mere makeshift till marriage looms up, 

 very many teachers will be guided solely and absolutely by the 

 book they are using, and as long as favoritism and cupidity pre- 

 vail in school-book committees, books will be adopted by school 

 boards which are unreliable, mere compilations, written by per- 

 sons who in some instances have confessed their incompetency as 

 authors. 



In regard to the second assertion, the answer is, after an ex- 

 perience of over twelve years as a teacher, and after conversation 

 with many excellent educators and the examination of many hun- 

 dred note-books, the number of pupils who have correct views as 

 to the truths of physiology and hygiene is comparatively small. 

 Ask some of the boy and girl graduates of your schools why 

 it is that a certain amount of carbonic-acid gas in a well, cel- 

 lar, or cave may be injurious to human beings in contact with 

 it, and not injurious to persons in a room or hall, or which is the 

 most nutritious food, or what produces and maintains the animal 

 heat of the body, and notice how few give even reasonable an- 

 swers. Yet a goodly number of these girls will be the future 

 teachers. Listen to the curious and absurd statements of what 



