791 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 
I have already brought evidence to show the loss of healthy 
proportion between chest development and height. After six or seven 
years old the chubby youngster loses its condition, with its dimples, 
and stretches skyward at the expense of width and with the loss of 
muscle. An observant correspondent, who writes in the Sporting and 
Dramatic News of last September, says: “What explanation can our 
scientific brethren give us of the undoubted fact that both Englishmen 
and dogs born and bred m India have a tendency to run to length of leg 
and nose? No better example of this can be found than that of Indian 
bred bulldogs, which after a few generations become quite snipy in 
appearance.” 
As it is latterly not a rare thing to hear of curved spines in the 
North, I may be permitted to quote Leibricb, the German authority, 
on this subject. He remarks that if a child has to read a book placed 
at too great a distance it sits on the edge of the seat, a very unhealthy 
and fatiguing position. It rests the body on the two arms ; and if the 
difference between the height of the desk and seat is too great, the 
chest is supported by the projecting shoulders, instead of the shoulders 
resting on the thorax. Soon this position becomes too fatiguing ; the 
head, bent forward, becomes too heavy, and must be supported by 
one or both hands at the temples, or by the chin resting upon both 
arms. It is still woi se when writing. With desks and seats of the 
ordinary form only, one arm rests on the table; this is generally the 
right, while the left harms so that the elbow approaches the left 
knee, and only the tips of the fingers hold the book on tlie table. The 
edge of the book is no longer parallel with the rim of the table, but 
slanting or even perpendicular to it. If we observe the position which 
the upper part ot the body assumes, we find that the lumbar vertebrae 
bend forward, those of the chest toward the left, and those of the neck 
forward, with an inclination to the right; at the same time the 
lower part of the shoulder-blade stauds too far off from the ribs, and 
is elevated too much towards the right, and the shoulder joint is raised 
and pushed forward. To be in such a position for several hours of the 
dav, at a time when the youthful body is rapidly developing, must 
naturally produce bad results. 
Ventilation must not be passed over lightly because we have a 
climate in which the doers and windows may be kept open. In our 
hottest and most depressing time of year light airs from the north 
prevail. Even these may cease when tlie clouds are heavy and low, so 
that the natural diffusion of gases is much retarded. Overcrowding 
in comfortable rooms increases the carbonic acid to 0'7 per 1,000; in 
badly ventilated sick chambers by 2T ; in over-crowded balls, 3*2 ; 
in pits, 4 ‘9 ; in schoolrooms, 7 2 per 1,000. In addition to the carbonic 
acid we have to consider the excretions from the surface of the body 
that give a distinct odour to the air, quite recognisable by the sense 
of smell. The organic matter thus put in circulation is extremely 
injurious to health; the more so as it is not easily disposed of by 
opening the windows, for it adheres to clothing, curtains, and furniture. 
School hours continue till 4 p.m. This is perhaps the most serious 
defect of the system ; on it other grievances rest. It compels most 
children to grow up without sufficient nourishment. A proportion of 
them eat but scanty breakfasts, the majority do not go home to mid- 
daw dinner ; their homes are too distant or their games too attractive. 
