xl Appendix. 
school-rooms, and proper position of seats and desks, but even this will not 
suffice, unless those who have the care of boys and girls know something of 
the physiological reasons why they are so constructed, and are fully alive to 
the dangers which they are trying to avert from their pupils. It may be 
said I am raising a cry without any cause. I do not admit this without 
proof, and none can be given until the children who attend our schools are 
carefully examined, and I would venture an opinion that 10 per cent. would 
be found suffering from defect of sight. Is there any position from which 
light should come so as to produce no harm to the eye? First, it should 
be sufficiently strong to preduce a good illumination, even of small print; 
it should as far as possible come from above the level of the heads of the 
pupils, and from the left side. Light coming from the right-hand side is 
not so good as that coming from the left, because the shadow of the hand 
falls upon that part of the paper at which we are looking ; if it come from 
a high window it is allowable, but the left side light is decidedly preferable. 
Light from behind is bad, because a shadow is thrown upon the book by the 
head. Light coming from the front, and falling upon the faces of the 
scholars, is perhaps worst of all, because the strong glare is both unpleasant 
and injurious to the eye, fatiguing it by the full glare thrown upon it, and 
making the images at which it is looking more difficult to be seen ; and it is 
always found that children instinctively run away from such a light, showing 
the annoyance they feel from it. 
The same rules should, as far as possible, be observed in lighting school- 
rooms during the evening. An eminent German oculist, who has carefully 
investigated the subject, says :—“ It is difficult to arrange gas-light well, but 
easy to arrange it better than has been done in most schools. Almost every- 
where I have found naked gas-jets, which give an unsteady, badlight. Glass 
cylinders would make the flame whiter and steadier. Ground-glass globes 
ought not to be used; they are useful for the ordinary lighting of a room, 
as they diffuse the light more equally throughout all parts; but for that 
very reason they give an indistinet light for work, and, if they are opposite 
io the eye, are dazzling and injurious. This property of diffusing light 
makes ground glass useful for lighting up the darker parts of a room by 
daylight also, where there is no direct light from the window; but care 
must be taken that it is only used for the upper parts of windows, or for 
sky-lights.” 
During the past fortnight I have visited most of the Public Schools in 
the city, with a view of ascertaining upon what system they are lighted, 
and I must say the result of my investigation has been on the whole unsatis- 
factory. There is no attempt at putting the windows and desks in suitable 
positions, and in some cases the light is insufficient as well as impro- 
