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 giiis 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 produce 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 mjurious 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 instmctively 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, bad light. 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 indistinct light for work, and, if they are opposite 

 to 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 dhect hght 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 hghted, 

 and I riiust 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 m some cases the Ught is insufficient as well as impro- 



