GUY MONTROSE WHIPPLE, PH. D. 277 



school building. 2 This investigation embodies a thorough scien- 

 tific examination of a single school building and unearths defects 

 in site, playground arrangements, illumination, heating, ventila- 

 tion, use of window shades, construction of urinals and closets, 

 janitor service, and other important phases of sanitation. The 

 air of the several classrooms was tested at three different levels 

 or strata, under varying weather conditions, and after varying 

 lengths of occupancy. In this work it was soon discovered that 

 practically all of the so-called simplified methods for testing 

 schoolroom air were unreliable, and that the Pettersson-Palmqvist 

 apparatus was necessary for accurate results. We also tried and 

 discarded a number of devices sold for schoolroom use in de- 

 termining relative humidity, since we found these similarly un- 

 reliable some of them, indeed, exhibiting errors of 40-50 per 

 cent, when compared with the results obtained with the standard- 

 ized form of whirling hygrometer with which all of our final de- 

 terminations were made. The velocity of air-currents in heating 

 and ventilating flues was tested carefully by anemometers similar 

 to the instrument which I have before me today. 



Naturally, no single piece of investigation like this one can 

 pretend to solve the ventilation problem, even for the single 

 school building in question, though we were able to recommend 

 a number of improvements. There are numerous general prin- 

 ciples involved in schoolroom ventilation, which are as yet 

 unsettled and which offer a good field for research work, some of 

 which may be undertaken by teachers in training classes. 



To take another instance of the use of scientific instruments, 

 the ordinary schoolroom tests of eyesight should be explained 

 with care to the embryo teacher, but a little additional time spent 

 in explaining a few refinements of method, particularly the use 

 of simple test-lenses, will add appreciably to the value of the 

 teacher's examination of the pupils. 



When studying the problem of schoolroom lighting, we demon- 

 strate the use of Weber's stereogoniometer (also exhibited 

 today), and some of our advanced students are now working out 

 modifications of Cohn's and other simple illuminometers which 

 we hope will ultimately furnish a fairly reliable and inexpensive 

 means for testing the illumination available at any school desk. 



Finally, I may mention another attempt that I am making, with 

 the aid of my students, to introduce greater exactness into cer- 

 tain phases of the work in school hygiene: I refer to a projected 

 "score card" for school buildings, the idea being to arrange the 

 scoring of the hygienic condition of a schoolhouse or school- 

 room in a similar manner to the scoring of a dairy by the agricul- 



2 This report, prepared by Mr. W. A. McGown, under the writer's direction, 

 will appear in the December, 1910, issue of the Pedagogical Seminary. 



