is secured either by suspending a polished plate above the
bowl or by painting the ceiling itself white, so that it casts
down into the room the rays which are thrown against it
from the lamps. Sometimes good effects are secured by
placing rows of lights around the walls or in the ceiling in
such a way that they are hidden from the eyes of those
o
v
MM
3
Q
a
a
r
Q
-
55
>>
OS
w
e
o
o
'-
ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING 85
below by ornamental mouldings. This method is coming
rapidly into favor for lighting school auditoriums.
There are many objections to be urged against indirect
systems of illumination. For example, as was noted previ-
ously in the discussion of intensity and contrast, it is less
tiring to work over an illuminated surface if the surround-
ing surfaces are somewhat darker than where the same
intensity prevails. In many offices where approved systems
of indirect lighting have been installed, it will be found —
provided sufficient funds are at the disposal of the office
workers — that desk after desk is provided with a supple-
mentary portable desk-lamp because the indirect overhead
illumination does not seem to the occupants sufficient for
their needs. As a matter of fact, actual tests in most of
these offices would show an ample number of foot candles
in every part of the room. A possible explanation of the
difficulty may be that the illumination of the working sur-
face is sufficient, but the illumination of surrounding sur-
faces is too intense and is unrelieved by shadows. Normal
sunlight casts shadows, and the eye has become accustomed
to concentrate its attention upon the most highly illumi-
nated areas, while relieved from equally intense stimuli
without the area by shadows and varying colors. Indirect
illumination gives the same intensity of light in all parts of
the room, the absence of shadows is both wearying to the
eye and possesses a somewhat weird appearance, and as a
result the occupants are frequently uncomfortable. This cu-
rious physical and psychological effect is much less notice-
able where people are talking or listening than in rooms
where the occupants are busy with individual pieces of
work requiring close use of the eyes. It is very probably
true that indirect lighting will find its chief usefulness in
illuminating churches, theaters, and auditoriums.
Semi-indirect lighting. It is here sought to secure the ad-
86 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS
vantages of direct and indirect lighting and to avoid the
disadvantages of each. Semi-indirect lighting is a plan
whereby the lights are placed in a bowl and reflected from
above, as in the indirect, but the bowl is made of trans-
lucent material, and some of the light shines through. In
semi-indirect lighting shadows are more noticeable, and the
effect seems somewhat more pleasant.
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
1. What sort of lighting is best for schools operated on the one-session
plan?
2. What instruments are used for measuring light? Compare as to prin-
ciple involved, simplicity, applicability to school conditions, cost.
S. How many foot candles are necessary for good illumination? Does
this apply to all types of work? Should light be measured near window,
at center of room, farthest corner? On bright day, average, or dark?
Winter or summer? Why?
4. Does the location of windows on one, two, or three sides affect the
rules for classroom width? How?
5. In one school system left and front lighting was chosen in preference
to right and back. How would you undertake to argue this case?
6. Make a study of different types of windows; noting the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
7. Visit school buildings on bright days and note the adjustment of win-
dow shades. How far does supplying the right sort of shade insure
good lighting day by day in the classroom?
8. What are the more common methods of gas and electric lighting?
Compare.
9. If plants are to be grown in classrooms, where should they be placed?
Are window boxes or hanging plants the more desirable?
10. If you are not already familiar with the plan, visit any buildings (fac-
tories, schools, and the like) in your vicinity, which are equipped with
overhead saw-tooth lighting. Note differences from ordinary side
lighting.
11. How often should prism glass be cleaned? Why?
12. If acetylene gas gives so satisfactory a light, why is it not generally
recommended for city school buildings?
ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING 87
SELECTED REFERENCES
Ayres, Leonard P. Public Schools of Springfield, Illinois. Division of
Education, Russell Sage Foundation, New York. (1914.)
Interesting report on illumination tests.
Bruce, W. G. School Architecture. (Milwaukee, 1910.)
Brief discussion of the subject of lighting.
Burgerstein, Leo. School Hygiene. Translated by B. L. Stevenson and A.
L. Von der Osten. F. A. Stokes Company, New York. (1915.)
Several short sections of value.
Dresslar, Fletcher B. "The School Plant"; in Report of Portland School
Survey. (Portland, Oregon, 1913.)
Good section on lighting.
Dresslar, Fletcher B. School Hygiene. The Macmillan Company, New
York. (1913.)
Good chapter on the lighting of schoolhouses.
Rowe, S. H. The Lighting of Schoolrooms. Longmans, Green & Company,
New York. (1904.)
Bather out-of-date, but still exceedingly useful.
Terman, L. M. Chapter on "Buildings"; in the Sail Lake City School
Survey. (1915.)
Interesting discussion of lighting.
CHAPTER VI
WATER SUPPLY
Every school needs a bountiful supply of good water.
City schools are obliged to depend upon the municipal water
system, and if the water contains impurities schools can do
little except complain to the authorities and arouse protests
among doctors and parents. Practically no system of arti-
ficial filtration on the premises can be relied on to purify
infected water; and in localities where the supply is danger-
ously bad, recourse must be had either to bottled water,
brought from sources known to be pure, or to the regular
city water boiled and afterwards chilled. For the large city
school such a proceeding is well-nigh impossible, and the
school lies at the mercy of the city authorities. Fortunately
public health boards are now thoroughly awake to the
perils of impure drinking-water, and most cities are under
constant and careful supervision. It is the country children
who are exposed to the most serious dangers of infection
from this source.
Springs and wells. Most country schools obtain their
supply of drinking-water from springs or wells on the
premises, or on adjoining farms. All such water has origi-
nally fallen on the surface as rain or snow, gradually trickled
down into the earth, and reached a pocket in the ground
where it has accumulated in the form of a small underground
stream. Where this stream breaks forth at a lower point of
the earth's surface it is called a spring. Where it is tapped
by digging or boring it is called a well. Springs are apt to
find their water channels much nearer to the earth's surface
than wells, and the chances that the surface water has been
WATER SUPPLY 89
thoroughly filtered are correspondingly less. Springs which
are near swampy ground are very frequently contaminated.
Whenever they are in low places near barnyards or pastures
the chances are large that the water will be heavily laden
with particles of decomposing manure and other farmyard
waste.
Where springs have their outlet in open pools it will be
found that, unless great care is taken to prevent animals and
human beings from making free with the water, the pool be-
comes quickly laden with impurities. In the same way wells
sometimes receive the greater part of their water from the
drainings of privies, barnyards, and the like. There seems
to be a tendency among country people to feel that water
which comes up out of the earth must be purer than that
which flows upon its surface. Sometimes they are right; but
frequently they are perilously wrong. The quality of water
in spring and well depends largely upon the geological for-
mation of the ground around it. For example, sandy loam
permits of free ventilation and acts as a natural filter, but
clay or rock is like a huge drain pipe which conserves all the
impurities of the water, and may carry them for miles. In
planning where to sink a well, therefore, it is necessary to
learn something about the formation of the soil in that
region. It is always safe to lay down the rule that no water
shall be used which comes fiom a lower level than a barn,
privy, or other contaminating agent. Observance of this
rule will not insure clean water, but neglect will result in an
impure water supply nine chances out of ten.
Carrying water by hand. Water may be brought to the
school by pipes from a reservoir, by hand or machine pumps,
or by being carried in pails. The rural school should never
rely on having water fetched in small quantities, unless there
is actually no other means of securing it. When this is un-
fortunately the case, large buckets should be secured, of gal-
90 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS
vanized iron, with tops which can be fastened securely in
place. Arrangements should be made with a responsible
agent whereby these buckets are filled with fresh water daily
and delivered at the school. On days when the school is not
in session these buckets should be carefully cleaned and
exposed to the full glare of the sun. It is important that the
old method of sending two of the boys each morning with
a wooden pail to the neighboring well for water should be
abolished, for under such circumstances half the supply is
spilled before the school is reached, the pails are uncovered
and often dirty, and the water is frequently contaminated.
With pails small enough so that they can be carried for some
distance by the growing boy, the water rapidly becomes
warm and uninviting; and, in addition, the supply is so
small that children are usually discouraged from using it
freely to wash their hands and faces.
The school well. A well on the school grounds is almost
always preferable to a spring or to the offices of kindly neigh-
bors. If due care is taken to locate the well properly, and to
make it impervious to surface infiltration, the water can
be kept sweet and pure throughout the summer months —
when many claim school wells deteriorate because they are
not being used — and a satisfactory water supply will be ob-
tained for all school purposes. This means, however, that
the well must be constructed with greater care than is usu-
ally exercised. A dug well can be made safe; but to do so is
expensive, for it must be deep enough to reach below the
line of surface infiltration, must be securely covered, and
the casing made water-tight down to the lowest water-line.
A driven well can usually be sunk much deeper, so that the
opportunities for filtering water before it reaches the well are
greater; and it is very easy to protect the sides from surface
drainage. A driven well is frequently materially less expen-
sive than a properly constructed dug well, and is, therefore,
WATER SUPPLY 91
to be preferred for school purposes. Sometimes a driven well
may be bored through a hard layer of clay or rock, into a
water-course sealed up below it. In such cases the source of
the water is usually not near the school building, but may
come from a spot several miles away. No matter whether
the well be dug or driven, it must be remembered that if
the water which supplies it comes from a contaminated
source no skill in construction will render it safe. A good
well conserves purity, but does not make it.
Every well should be covered at the top. There is some-
thing about the open well which is peculiarly tempting, and
each child who passes feels the necessity of flinging down a
stone or stick to hear it strike. Apple cores, rotten tomatoes,
and even small dead animals find the uncovered well a
handy receptacle; and every such offering adds to the im-
purity of the water. The well should be provided with a
cement top which keeps out dirt and, when desirable, fur-
nishes a platform for a force pump by which water may be
drawn to the surface. A small pressure tank can easily be
attached to the pump, so that water is always at hand for
a bubbling fountain. Provision should also be made for
carrying off the waste water by pipes so that it can neither
flow back into the well nor dampen the surrounding earth,
and so render it unfit to walk on.
Water pressure. It is exceedingly desirable that every
school be supplied with water under pressure. City schools
usually have no trouble here, but there are very few country
schools which are so equipped. Water pressure makes pos-
sible indoor sanitary toilets, which are greatly needed in the
country. It also provides plentiful opportunity for washing
hands and faces, for keeping drinking-water fresh and cool,
for use in cooking, and even for the shower bath which is
coming to be a necessary part of rural-school equipment. In
addition a bountiful water supply under pressure is one of
92 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS
the safest provisions against fire. Every rural school not
otherwise supplied with water under pressure should be pro-
vided with a tank or reservoir at a considerable height, to
which water can be pumped by windmill, gasoline engine, or
some other motive power, and from which pipes distrib-
ute the water, as needed, to various parts of the building.
Another form, used in very cold countries, is what is known
as the "Kewanee system," by means of which a galvanized
iron tank is buried in the ground beneath the school build-
ing, and the water put into the tank under pressure by
means of a gasoline engine, also in the basement of the
school.
The individual cup. Seven years ago not a State in the
Union had passed a legislative enactment against the com-
mon drinking-cup. To-day over half the States have laws
or regulations against it, and more are added every year.
Within half a decade we have seen the passing of the tin
cup fastened by a chain in the railroad car, the depot, and
the department store, and the introduction of the col-
lapsible paper cup. At first the public schools sought to
supplant the common drinking-cup by individual glasses,
brought from home and labeled with the child's name; but
it was speedily found that children have little fear of germs
and are generous with their possessions, so that it was con-
sidered a mark of friendship to exchange cups. The paper
cup, to be used once and then discarded, was fairly satis-
factory, but involved some expense, and the discarded cups
were apt to make an untidy appearance. Finally various
types of bubbling fountains — previously used in parks and
outdoor playgrounds — were adapted to school uses. Now
the bubbling fountain has become a standard piece of school-
house equipment.
Bubbling fountains. In large schools a fountain should
be placed on each floor of the building, in the basement,
WATER SUrPLY 93
and in the playground. Playground fountains should be
disconnected during freezing weather. There should be at
least one fountain installed for every seventy children in
attendance, and a better standard is one for every forty
children. The bubbling fountain should present a stream
two inches high, and be so arranged that waste water is
carried off without mixing with the fresh. It should be pro-
tected by a frame which prevents the mouth from coming
in contact with the outlet, but care should be taken to
make this frame in such a way that children will not run
any danger of breaking their teeth upon it. There is some-
thing so peculiarly helpless in the appearance of another
person bending over a drinking fountain that most normal
children, and some adults, are filled with a sudden strong
desire to push the drinker's head down into the water. If
the fountain is not designed to protect the child against just
such accidents painful injuries may sometimes result.
Another tendency against which precautions should be
taken is that which children have of covering up several
holes in a battery of fountains in order to concentrate water
pressure on one, and so produce a high forceful stream. If
such a result can be produced at the moment when a com-
panion is bending over in the act of drinking the victim is
sure to receive a drenching. Most of the newer fountains
are so arranged that any such manipulation of water is out
of the question.
The fountain should be made of porcelain, nickel, or
some other substance which is well protected against rust
or corrosion; and should be simple in design, so that it will
not get out of order. The key which turns on the water
should be plainly visible and easy in action, so that children
can work it without having to use both hands. Some sim-
ple device should be attached for regulating the size of
the stream. The pipe which carries off waste water should
94 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS
be so arranged that it will not readily become clogged with
paper, twine, or other refuse.
Home-made fountains. Dr. Dresslar suggests that in
schools where the standard manufactured bubbling foun-
tains seem too expensive, it is possible to make a fairly good
substitute by connecting the main service pipe, at the middle
point of a horizontal length of nickel-covered water pipe,
and closing both ends. Small holes should then be pierced,
about thirty inches apart, along the length of this pipe, each
slightly toward the front so that a stream of water passing
through would not fall back into its own hole. A key should
control the stream. Below the bubblers should be placed a
sink or basin to carry away the waste water. These bubblers
bring the children rather close together, so that disturbances
are likely to follow, and they are so constructed that water
may be squirted in long streams by manipulating the open-
ings. Moreover, there is no means of insuring that children
will not place their mouths directly in contact with the
pipe. The fountains so constructed are distinctly inferior to
many designs on the market, and should only be installed
where others cannot be procured.
Cooler attachments. For rural schools without water
pressure, bubbling fountains may be secured to fit on small
tanks or coolers. The rules covering their construction are
the same as those for pressure systems; except that while
in the latter cases fountains are allowed to run all the time
during certain periods, — for example, at recess, — where the
supply of water is limited as in the former case, the fountain
should close automatically as soon as the child finishes drinking.
Height of fountains. A common fault in installing drink-
ing-fountains is to make them either too high or too low.
Primary children sometimes have to be lifted up in order to
drink, while tall high-school students are made to feel un-
necessarily awkward by fountains which would be just the
WATER SUPPLY 95
right height for their little brothers or sisters. A series of
simple experiments is needed to determine standards for
heights of fountains, such as have already been determined
for the placing of blackboards.
The habit of cleanliness. Space is given in the next chap-
ter to the reasons why facilities for washing the hands
should be provided in connection with every toilet-room.
The habit of cleanliness can only be established through
giving children a clear understanding of why it is desirable,
and then seeing to it that washing actually takes place.
Mere supervision and enforcement of the rule will be of
comparatively little value unless it is connected with a
hygienic attitude of mind; and one of the most important
tasks of the health department in the public school system is
to establish such an attitude through careful and effective
teaching. As an aid to such teaching, every school should
be provided with equipment so that lessons learned may be
put into practice.
Lavatories. Few definite standards have as yet been
evolved concerning the number and location of lavatories.
Children's hands become dirty while on the playground,
while using chalk at the blackboard, handling books, writing
with ink, working in the shops or gymnasium, and the like.
They should be encouraged to wash their hands whenever
they are dirty, and if they are to eat lunch at school washing
the hands before entering the lunchroom should be insisted
upon. If such a plan is to be carried out, however, it becomes
essential that adequate washing facilities be provided and
situated where they may be reached quickly, so that chil-
dren will feel free to use them and time will not be lost away
from the classroom. While most school men are theoretically
in agreement with this principle, actually there are few
schools in the United States built and equipped in such a
manner that it can readily be put into practice.
96 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS
In many schools the only washing facilities are in the
basement. Wash-basins are certainly needed both for chil-
dren coming from the toilet and for those on the playground;
but if the only washbowls are in the basement children will
rarely use them for removing the dirt of the classroom. In
some parts of England and the United States wash-basins
with hot water are placed in every dressing-room. More
frequently in this country they are placed on each floor in
the hallway, or in a small room set aside for that purpose.
The second method makes for simpler plumbing, but prob-
ably means that water will be used less freely. In a few
cases wash-basins are supplied as part of the regular room
furnishings. It is fairly common for special washing arrange-
ments to be provided for children in the open-air classes,
so that they may wash the hands before eating, but there
is rarely any similar provision for normal children who
patronize the school lunch, even though the practice of
eating with dirty hands is widespread and distinctly dan-
gerous.
Wash-basins should always be installed in rooms where
special cleanliness is desired — such as sewing-rooms, or
where dirty work is being carried on, as, for instance, in
forge-rooms, printing-rooms, gymnasiums, and the like.
They should also be part of the equipment of the doctor's
office, teacher's rest-room, and kindergarten. In England,
according to Burgerstein's account, one wash-basin is pro-
vided for every twenty-five children. In the United States
each basin is frequently expected to accommodate several
hundred children. The installation of a basin in every dress-
ing-room, or a washroom with a battery of basins on every
floor, would involve heavy expense, but the returns in im-
proved health and better habits would speedily justify the
investment.
Hot water. Lavatories should be supplied with hot water
WATER SUPPLY 07
as well as cold. This at once implies some means of heating
water in connection with the regular heating-plant. Cold
water is better than none, but it is ineffective in removing
dirt, and in winter children will often refrain from washing
at all rather than plunge the hands into very cold water.
Soap. A good quality of liquid or powdered soap, in con-
tainers devised to prevent spilling and waste, should be
provided over every basin. Soap may be brought from home
by individual children, but the cakes are apt to get lost,
lent from one child to another, fall on the floor, and gener-
ally prove unsatisfactory. Care should be taken in selecting
liquid soap to choose a brand which will not irritate the
skin.
Towels. Individual towels may be brought from home
by the children or may be supplied by the school. In the
latter case they should be thoroughly washed and sterilized
before being given to new children. Some schools supply
each child with a fresh towel once a week, and have strict
rules against exchanging tow T els between friends. Paper
towels which are used once and then destroyed are rapidly
coming into use. When first introduced they were rather
expensive, but the price is coming within the reach of school
boards; and it is probable that before long they will have
largely supplanted cotton or linen towels. Large bins should
be provided for catching the discarded paper towels, because,
since they are rather bulky, they rapidly litter the floor and
evoke bitter complaints from the janitor.
Baths as punishments. Bathing is such a primitive need
of the body that increased facilities for its performance
mean always increased health. It is rather astonishing that
such slow progress has been made in the United States
in providing baths for school children. A few cities sup-