PREVENTION OF SPINAL DISTORTION. 3 17 



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

 second, to avoid improper positions at school, and certain 

 modes of dress ; third, that the seats in the school-room 

 should be provided with backs ; fourth, that the time usu- 

 ally occupied in study at school, should be diminished ; 

 and fifth, that the students should be allowed to take 

 abundance of exhilarating exercise, such as nature requires 

 in the open air. 



1019. Every seat should be furnished with a back, not 

 however 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 backward. By such 

 a back the spinal column is properly supported. 



1020. 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. 



1021. Four or five hours per day, spent in close study 

 and recitations, is perhaps as much time as can be em- 

 ployed to the mental and corporeal advantage of pupils 

 from twelve to sixteen years of age. And young chil- 

 dren 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 par- 

 ticipate. 



1022. Every school-house for young children should, 

 if possible, have a play-ground, furnished with implements 

 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 furnished with bows 

 and arrows, and such other instruments 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. 



1023. If these suggestions are carried into general 

 practice, we cannot but believe that the number of de- 

 formed shoulders, crooked spines, pale faces, and con- 

 sumptive diseases, would be greatly diminished among our 

 females. 



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