314 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 192 



by virtue of recently enacted laws, made great 

 strides in the matter of tenement-house reform, 

 Brooklyn stands where she did in 1867, when the 

 Metropolitan board of health existed. In May, 

 1885, more than sixteen months ago, the health 

 commissioner forwarded to the common council a 

 number of amendments to the old law, which the 

 experience of nearly twenty years had proved to 

 be necessary for the weKare of the poor. These 

 amendments required the construction of all new 

 tenement-houses to be in accordance with the 

 requirements of the health department as to light, 

 ventilation, plumbing, and drainage, and prohib- 

 ited the building of such a house so as to occupy 

 more than sixty-five per cent of the lot on which 

 it stands. Other suggested changes were of equal 

 importance and value. Before the amended ordi- 

 nances can have validity, they must be approved 

 by the common council. Thus far, no sign has 

 been given that this body has the least intention 

 of acting upon them in any way, and it is more 

 than probable that they have been consigned to a 

 pigeon-hole, from which they will never be re- 

 moved. 



The attention of physicians and other philan- 

 thropists has of late been more directed to the care 

 of the inmates of public institutions than ever 

 before, and as a result many cases of neglect and 

 ill treatment have come to light which would 

 otherwise have been soon forgotten by every one 

 cognizant of the facts ; excepting, perhaps, the 

 poor victims, who, being without friends or influ- 

 ence, could not bring their wrongs to the notice of 

 the authorities. In view of the possibilities, to 

 say the least, of what might happen in institutions, 

 the friends of reform succeeded in passing through 

 the last legislature of New York a bill which is 

 entitled "An act for the better preservation of 

 the health of children in institutions." It went 

 into effect Oct. 1 of this year. The provisions of 

 this law apply to all institutions which have been 

 founded for the harboring of children. The act, 

 which is known as chapter 633, requires every in- 

 stitution of this kind to have attached to the 

 service a regular physician of good standing. 

 His duties consist in examining every child that 

 applies for admission, and issuing a certificate of 

 its freedom from contagious disease or not, as the 

 case may be. The certificate must also state the 

 mental and physical condition of the child. He 

 is also held responsible for the sanitary condition 

 of the building, and must report the same to the 



officials of the institution and to the board of 

 health. It is made the duty of this latter body to 

 investigate at once any complaints made to it, and 

 to remedy in a prompt manner the defects found. 

 If any of the children become affected with any 

 of the contagious diseases, including those of the 

 eye and skin, they must not be permitted to remain 

 unless they can be properly isolated and taken 

 care of without prejudice to the other children. 

 The law also requires that special attention be paid 

 to the ventilation of the buildings. A refusal to 

 comply with the provisions of the law constitutes a 

 misdemeanor. We had occasion, in a recent issue 

 of Science, to speak of the large number of chil- 

 dren in public institutions who suffered from con- 

 tagious ophthalmia, — a disease which, if neg- 

 lected, is liable to destroy the eyesight of those 

 attacked. The law to which we have just referred 

 will do much to reduce this evU, and indeed, if 

 completely fulfilled, to eradicate it entirely from 

 the places where for so long a time it has found 

 its victims by the score. 



M. Eugene Stropeno, the writer who has an 

 article in a late issue of the Revue internationale 

 de Venseignement on higher education in the 

 United States, has very carefully digested for his 

 readers the report of the commissioner of educa- 

 tion for 1883-84. M. Stropeno gives no evidence, 

 in his article, of any personal acquaintance with 

 our educational system, and therefore has nothing 

 critical to advance. He merely gives an exposi- 

 tion of Commissioner Eaton's report, and the elab- 

 orate tables of statistics accompanying it. In 

 touching on the Harvard systein of electives, M. 

 Stropeno quotes the criticisms of Presidents Porter 

 and McCosh, and is inclined to side with them in 

 the view they take of President Eliot's policy. 

 Whatever the writer's views, it is refreshing to 

 see so full and painstaking an exposition of what 

 our colleges and professional schools are, and are 

 doing for the benefit of foreign readers. And 

 among no people is the new pedagogical move- 

 ment more active than among the Fi-ench. In the 

 following number of the same review, there is an 

 appreciative account of Fichte's pedagogical theory 

 and influence, by Professor Hallberg of Toulouse. 

 We can heartily recommend this short sketch to 

 those educators who would know what Fichte 

 taught and did. It must be borne in mind that 

 he was the man who showed Pestalozzi the lat- 

 ter's essential agreement with Kant, and it was he 



