272 SCHOOL SANITATION AND HYGIENE 



will quickly convince the speaker that his hearers are absolutely 

 ignorant of physiological, anatomical, and dietary conditions. 

 One might almost believe that the field of physical knowledge 

 had become as dead as the classic languages are supposed to be. 

 The teacher seems to think little of the fact that "on a man's 

 ancestors depends whether he is to be a fool, a genius, or a 

 madman, or whether he is to be a success or failure in life." 

 They should know that it is doubtful if any child is born in a 

 civilized country without some inherited brain and mental weak- 

 ness of some sort or in some degree. And that this is not in 

 the least inconsistent with the other fact that the brain cell and 

 its function of mind are more amenable to the effects of environ- 

 ment and education than any other cell in the human body. 



We are coming to believe that many precious lives that 

 would have done much for the world have been lost through 

 early preventable death or bad training and through want of 

 mental and bodily hygiene. Woe to the people, therefore, who 

 use up too often their surplus of brain inhibition. They will be 

 angels or demons just as they are fresh or tired. 



Again, the entire biological curriculum should contribute to 

 an enlarged and more definite knowledge of sanitary science. 

 It is in the unification of physics, physiology, biology, psycho- 

 logy and the like, that we may hope to lay a foundation for the 

 study of medical inspection, thus introducing the teacher natur- 

 ally to the fields of oral hygiene, infections and contagious dis- 

 eases, and sex hygiene. 



Where physical examinations have been given, they have 

 resulted in securing a higher sense of personal cleanliness. As 

 soon as the examinations begin, the children are more careful 

 of their dress, more sensitive as to the conditions of their hands 

 and faces, and quite reticent in regard to the use of the com- 

 mon family tooth brush or tooth rag with its coating of ashes. 

 They give their hair a more careful daily dressing and shun 

 any comment indicating diseases of the scalp. If the examina- 

 tion had no other value than that of producing an annual clean- 

 ing up, it fulfils a highly efficient function, but it serves also as 

 a practical clinic for apprentice teachers. In addition to phy- 

 sical examination blanks, apprentice teachers should be fur- 

 nished with a printed outline of symptoms that indicate the 

 onset of such contagious diseases as scarlet fever, mumps, 

 whooping cough, chicken pox, measles, diphtheria and influenza. 

 This outline should be supplemented by a course of lectures on 

 the cause, complications and sequelae, and treatment of chil- 

 dren's diseases. Such a course should be given by a physician. 

 Practical demonstrations should be given in the use of disin- 



