NO. I AIR AND TUBERCULOSIS HINSDALE IO5 



ranged so that the lower end can be raised to the ceihng, thus leaving 

 this half of the room completely open to the south. Each school 

 desk and its accompanying seat is arranged on an individual wooden 

 support so that, while stationary as regards each other, each desk 

 and seat can be moved as desired, and thus any arrangement of seats 

 may be made. The school is an ungraded one (the ages running 

 from 7 to 13 years), and as such limited to 25 pupils. The school 

 hours are from 9 to 11.45 a. m., and from 1.45 to 3.30 p. m., with a 

 recess from 10.15 to 10.45. Towards the end of this recess each 

 pupil is served a cup of hot soup. Each pupil has a sitting-out bag 

 of the standard type and in very cold weather has a hot soapstone 

 in the bottom of the bag. In the end of the room not open to the 

 south a good fire k kept going, thus partially warming the air and 

 keeping that end of the room moderately warm, the pupils' seats all 

 being in the other end. 



One interesting feature in connection with the school is that, 

 though these children come from poor homes and there has been an 

 extensive epidemic of " colds " in winter, especially affecting the 

 nose and throat, no child in the school has had even a " cold in the 

 head." On being enrolled, each child is weighed, measured, and 

 the hemoglobin tested. The League furnishes the sitting-out bags 

 and soapstones and some clothing, the city paying all other expenses. 



Thus the credit for suggesting the school belongs to Drs. Packard 

 and Stone, but the work was developed and carried on through the 

 efforts of the League. Most of the children for the school are 

 selected in the first instance by the head tuberculosis nurse and sec- 

 ondly by the physicians on the League Committee. All of them 

 are from within walking distance of the school. Dr. Stone is one 

 of the Medical Inspectors of the Public Schools and the other Medi- 

 cal Inspector, Dr. Charles E. Hawkes, was added to the committee. 



Providence was the first city in the country to establish special 

 schools for the mentally deficient and the school department is to be 

 highly complimented because of the enthusiasm and energy with 

 which they took up the establishment of a special school for the 

 physically deficient as soon as the matter was presented to them. 



This Fresh Air School in Providence was opened on January 27, 

 1908, with ten pupils, and soon twenty were enrolled. Hot soap- 

 stones, sitting-out bags, hot drinks at recess, frequent trips to the 

 stove, breathing exercises, marching, bending movements, and uni- 

 form work in singing are prominent features of the pioneer fresh-air 

 school in America.^ 



' Ellen A. Stone, M. D., Journal of the Outdoor Life, May, 1908. 



