PREVENTION OF SPINAL DISTORTION. 309 



stated, that it is necessary, first, to avoid tight lacing ; 

 second, to avoid improper positions at school, and cer- 

 tain modes of dress; third, that the seats in the school 

 room should be provided with backs ; fourth, that the 

 time usually occupied in study at school should be di- 

 minished ; and fifth, that the students should be allowed 

 to take abundance of exhilarating exercise, such as nature 

 requires, in the open air. 



Every seat should be furnished with a back, not how- 

 ever with a narrow strip elevated so as to come across 

 the shoulder blades ; but a continuous support from the 

 bench, to the height of about two feet, and not standing 

 perpendicularly, but curved a little backwards. By such 

 a back the spinal column is properly supported. 



School rooms ought to be furnished with desks at 

 which the pupils can write in the standing posture. 

 These need not exceed one half, or perhaps one third 

 the number of pupils, and may be used in rotation. 



Four or five hours per day, spent in close study and 

 recitations, is perhaps as much time as can be employed, 

 to the mental and corporeal advantage of pupils from 

 twelve to sixteen years of age. And young children 

 ought not to be kept in their places more than an hour 

 at a time, after which some little pleasant relaxation 

 should be allowed, and in which the teachers should 

 participate. 



Every school house for young children should, if pos^ 

 sible, have a play ground, furnished with imple- 

 ments for amusement, adapted to their ages. And 

 seminaries for young ladies should be provided with a 

 romping yard, with a high fence, and a shed on one 

 side, for exercise in bad weather. This should be fur- 

 nished with bows and arrows7*and such other instru- 

 ments of exciting amusement as may be found most 

 agreeable to the ages of the pupils ; and here they 

 should be allowed to enjoy an hour, or half an hour, at 

 proper intervals, several times during the day. 



If these suggestion are carried into general practice, 

 we cannot but believe that the number of deformed 

 shoulders, crooked spines, pale faces, and consump- 

 tive diseases, would be greatly diminished among our 

 femajes, 



