ply showers or pools in their newer buildings, but rarely
are there fixtures enough to provide frequent baths for all



98 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

or even most of the children enrolled. In many places the
school bath is regarded as something rather like a disciplin-
ary measure. The teacher inspects the children, and upon
detecting evidences of uncleanliness orders the culprit to
the showers; so that the idea of bathing is forcibly linked in
the minds of the pupils with the idea of punishment. Few
better methods could be devised for making children wish to
remain unclean.

Group showers. The school showers should be regarded
as one of the most important and delightful of school posses-
sions. The children should be made to feel that bathing is
a privilege, and that they are more fortunate than the pupils
in less modern buildings who have to do without. Bathing-
rooms should be made as attractive as possible, well ven-
tilated and flooded with sunlight, and large enough to accom-
modate entire classes at one time. The cheapest form of
sanitary shower is the German type, in which fixtures are
placed above large pools of water about a foot deep, which
are built in the cement floor. Children are turned into these
pools in groups of twenty or thirty, are supplied with cakes
of soap, and after they have carried on a preliminary scrub-
bing with the water already in the pool the showers over-
head give them a thorough rinsing. The pool water is warm ;
the showers are warm, gradually turning to cold. When
girls bathe in this way their hair should be protected by
rubber caps, or by towels worn turban fashion.

Another form of the group shower does away with the
scrubbing-pools, and merely has the children stand on a
cement floor, which slopes toward drains at the center. If
the cement floor becomes slippery it is often necessary to
provide a flooring of wooden slats in order to prevent falling.
In most cases the group shower can be used successfully
with boys, but is not advisable for girls. Even with the
younger girls parents are usually so averse to the idea of



WATER SUPPLY 99

group bathing that school people will find that any such
suggestion arouses strong opposition. Showers for girls
should be placed in booths or separated from the rest of the
room by curtains. Fixtures should be so adjusted that the
spray is shot from the side, rather than from above. It is
very difficult to prevent girls' hair from getting wet in an
overhead shower, and such an arrangement is sure to be
unpopular.

Dressing-rooms. Where the system of ventilation is such
that steam is rapidly carried away, dressing-rooms should be
built close to the showers; but where the air is damp the
outdoor clothing sometimes becomes filled with moisture,
and serious colds may result. Where dressing-rooms are at
a distance from the showers, sheets should be provided for
girls to wrap about themselves while walking back and forth.
A simple arrangement of dressing-booths and shower is
installed in several of the Cleveland schools, where one
shower and four booths, each furnished with a seat, are
designed to form a complete square.

Rural bathing. Some form of shower bath should be in-
stalled in every school and in sufficient numbers to provide
for every child in the building a bath every week. In rural
schools supplied with water under pressure baths may read-
ily be installed, and hot water secured by a hot-water tank
connected with furnace, stove, or separate heater. Even
without a pressure tank water may be pumped by hand into
an overhead reservoir with shower connection. One of the
reasons why the country child makes such a poor showing
in the medical inspection reports is, that in many districts
country people regard bathing as an unnecessary luxury
intended for babies, invalids, and summer visitors. Many
respectable city dwellers, who are rendered wretchedly un-
comfortable without the daily bath, spent their early days
on farms where the only reason for washing was to remove



100 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

dirt from face, hands, and neck, — the parts of the body which
showed, — because with them and their neighbors cleanliness
was a matter of looks, and had little to do with good health.

In the ordinary farmhouse, where water is pumped from
the well and heated in tea-kettle and boiler on top of the
kitchen stove, it is a serious undertaking to provide baths
for a large family. The city dweller himself would find that
if the family washtubs had to be carried into the kitchen
and filled and emptied by hand, even a weekly bath would
tend to disappear. There is no need for the farmhouse to be
lacking, as it so often is, in the simple sanitary equipment
which makes for cleanly living, but years of education must
ensue before the farmer desires cleanliness enough to work
for it, and pending that time the country school must care
for the bathing needs of its children.

Tubs and pools. It is unwise to install tubs in school
buildings or other places of public resort because, to make
them safe, requires sterilization after each use; they take
up too much room; are expensive to purchase; and are less
refreshing than the shower bath. If soap is provided, dirt
may be removed under the shower as easily as in the tub.

Many high schools and a few elementary schools in the
United Spates are equipped with swimming-pools. They
should not be used for purposes of cleaning the body; in
fact, shower baths should be supplied and their use insisted
upon before swimmers are allowed to enter the water. The
pool is of value chiefly because it provides good sport, prac-
tice in group activity, physical exercise, and opportunity
to learn how to swim. From the educational viewpoint the
swimming-pool is a good investment.

Construction of pools. The location chosen is usually in
the basement, on the south or east side where good lighting
can be secured. The pool should be about seventy-five feet
long (so as to provide for the twenty-five-yard dash) and



WATER S.UPPTA' 101

twenty or twenty-five feet wide. The depth varies for differ-
ent uses, but should be at least seven feet at one end and
two and one-half feet at the other. The bed and retaining
walls should be of concrete, lined with asphalt, and provided
with an inner lining of cement or brick, with wall ties to
bind the enameled brick facing. This interior facing should
be glazed, without cracks or roughness, and set with rounded
corners, so that it can be kept scrupulously clean. A light-
colored surface makes for cleanliness, and is the best back-
ground for the black lines which should run the length of
the pool, on the bottom, for guidance in speed swimming.
Square ends are necessary if swimming meets are to be held.

A life rail should be set level on the top course of brick,
and a scum trough placed below, just at the water level.
The waves made by the swimmers will then carry scum
formed into the drain pipe. In some pools cuspidor attach-
ment is made with the life rail. Swimming often causes one
to raise mucus, and if cuspidor is not at hand the swimmer
will expectorate and so defile the water. At each end of the
pool steps should be built into the side wall to take the place
of the ladder usually placed there. The depth of the water
should be clearly marked on the sides and bottom. A spring-
board and a diving-stand are desirable additions to the equip-
ment of the pool.

Keeping the water pure. Objections are frequently raised
to public swimming-pools because of the danger of infection
resulting from many persons bathing together in polluted
water. That the fear is justified is shown by experiments
such as those quoted by Bunker and Whipple. " 1 1 was found
that washing a dirty male hospital patient yielded twenty-
five thousand million bacteria; that a smooth-skinned 'clean '
man^gave three thousand million, as against fourteen thousand
million from a hairy-skinned individual. The feet of a boy in
the corridor, about to enter the pool, yielded eighty million."



102 HEAITPEUL SCHOOLS

When swimming-pools were first introduced there was
grave fear of transmitting disease, and many experiments
were carried on to find means of overcoming the danger.
As a result, it has been found that pools may be made safe
by a combination of refiltration and doses of hypochlorite
of lime. Arthur N. Crane, in the Proceedings of tfie American
Association for Promoting Hygienic and Public Baths says,
in discussing refiltration: "However, it is only fair to point
out that while many of the reports from pools where refil-
tration only is employed indicate high bacteriological effi-
ciency, this cannot reasonably be expected so confidently
as if the hypochlorite of lime treatment also were used.
While it is quite possible to operate a mechanical filter so
as to deliver at the outlet of the filter a water pure to the
degree demanded by health authorities for drinking-water,
and a pool could therefore be filled with pure water, yet the
first individual entering it would contaminate it, and while
the filter could always be operated so that the water would
always be pure, the full effect of this would be lost so soon
as the water mixed with other water in the pool which had
already been contaminated." He goes on to explain the
desirability of the hypochlorite of lime treatment. Ordinary
commercial hypochlorite of lime contains about thirty per
cent of available chlorine. It is this nascent chlorine which
acts to kill the bacteria. One pound of the hypochlorite will
treat satisfactorily a one hundred thousand gallon pool, and
since the lime only costs two cents per pound the annual
bill for this preventive will be only about $7.30.

Refiltration is even less expensive. Reports show that it
takes on an average two tons of coal to heat a one hundred
thousand gallon pool to a temperature of between 70° and
75° F. In addition, water itself in most communities is
rather expensive. If this water is used over and over again,
freshly filtered each time, — and never allowed to lose much



WATER SUPPLY 103

of its heat, the result is a decided money-saving. Refiltra-
tion, combined with dosing of hypochlorite of lime, procures
a constant supply of fresh water emptying into the pool,
and a continuous purification of the water already contained
there, so that dangers of infection are reduced to a minimum.
Rules and regulations for pools. In boys' and men's pools
no clothing, or at most nothing more than a pair of bathing-
trunks, should be worn. A cleansing shower of hot water
and soap should always precede the plunge. In girls' and
women's pools the clothing should be a single-piece swim-
ming-suit, similar to men's trunks and jerseys; it should
be sterilized after each using and kept in the building by
attendants. Girls and women should be obliged to remove
suits and hang them over the door before taking the cleans-
ing shower. The following rules and regulations will be
found needful in the administration of swimming-pools : —

1. Maintain the water in the pool pure and clear by employing
refiltration and hypochlorite of lime.

2. Have the pool well lighted by sunlight during the day, and
by artificial lights at night.

3. Have an attendant always on duty when the pool is in use;
grant no admission at other times.

4. Prevent persons with any communicable disease fiom using
the pool. Examine the heart of every person admitted.

5. Enforce the cleansing of each bather before entering pool.
This may be accomplished by : —

a. Admittance to pool only through showers.

b. Insistence that suits be taken off and thrown over door
while women bathe.

6. Allow no unsterilized clothing to be worn in the pool. Guard
against stockings and undergarments worn under bathing-
suits. Insist that all women bathers shall wear rubber caps.

7. Provide a scum gutter around the pool; prohibit expectoration
in the pool.

8. Prevent visitors from walking around the pools, and thus
tracking in dirt. Visitors must stay in the gallery.

9. Prohibit handkerchiefs in the water; allow no cold cream or



104 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

powder to be put on the face before entering: prevent bathers
with cuts, vaccinations, corn plasters, or bandages from using
the pool.

10. Have a long pole on either side of the pool with which to help
persons unable to swim who go beyond their depth.

11. Do not have any obstruction in the pool or along the edge.
Do not allow running on the tile approach to the life rail.

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AM) DISCUSSION

1. How should rural-school authorities determine the geological forma-
tion of ground around the school building? Are any government
sources of information availal

2. When is water considered "pure" for drinking purposes? How may
it be tested? Are any of these tests practicable for use by teachers?

3. What is a driven well? A dug well? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?

4. Make a comparative study of drinking fountains now on the market;
noting such points as durability, simplicity, safety, economy of water,
cost, and the like.

5. Secure a table showing height of school children at different ages, and
from this determine how high drinking-fountains should be made for
various types of schools. Should all the fountains in one buildmg be
of the same height?

SELECTED REFERENCES

American Association for Promoting Hjgiene and Public Baths. Annual

Report. (1913.)
Brewer, I. W. Rural Hygiene. (Philadelphia, 1909.)
Particularly helpful on question of water supply.

Dresslar, Fletcher B. School Hygiene. The Macmillan Company, New
York. (1913.)

Gives rather full and interesting treatment of subjects here discussed.

Mason, W 7 illiam P. Water Supply. Fourth edition. Wiley & Sons, New
York. (1916.)

Massachusetts State Board of Health. "Sanitary Control of Swimming-
Pools"; in Annual Report. (1912.)

Ra venal, "Hygiene of Swimming-Pools"; in Journal of American Medical
Association, October 19, 1912.

United States Public Health Service, Bulletin no. 57. Common Drinking
Cups and Roller Toicels.

Whipple George C. Value of Pure Water. W T iley & Sons, New York. (1907).



CHAPTER VII

TOILETS

Typical toilet-rooms. The following paragraphs, taken
from the volume on ScJiooi Buildings and Equipment of the
Cleveland Education Survey, is a fairly accurate description
of the toilet-rooms in most city school buildings : —

The typical toilet-room in the elementary school is located in
the basement. Walls are whitewashed and the floor is of cement.
The room is lighted from one or two sides by several small windows
near the ceiling. Down the center of the room runs a double row
of toilets, placed back to back, and separated from cadi other l>y
wooden partitions. Except in the newest schools there arc no doors
or screens to shield the occupants, either boys or girls. Toilets
are of the latrine type — that is, they all empty into one large
trough running underneath, and are flushed at regular intervals by
a central flushing system. The body of the toilet is usually of iron,
and the seat of wood with a wooden cover. All seats aie the same
height from the floor, without regard to the size of the children
for whom they are intended.

In the boys' room urinals of metal covered with white enamel
paint and supplied with iron bases are placed around the sides of
the room. They are continually flushed by overflow or pierced
pipes at the top, and are open to the room without dividing par-
titions or screens. In over half the schools metal urinals have
been replaced by porcelain, with glass bases of the same shape
and flushed in the same way. Where metal urinals are used there
is sometimes an unpleasant odor. Cement floors around latrines
and urinals are usually discolored.

Toilet-rooms receive little light from outside windows. Where
latrines are ranged down the center of the room they cut off all
sunlight and render the rooms so dark that artificial Lighting is
constantly necessary. In old buildings there are very few toilet-
rooms in which the sunlight ever reaches the fart hot corner.

At one side of the room, against the wall, or else just outside the
door, aie placed at least one, and often four, sanitary drinking-



106 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

fountains, and beside them four wash-basins with hot and cold
water. In a few cases shower baths are also located in the toilet-
room.

Doors are of wood and frosted glass. They are in two parts, with
a post between. One side swings out, and the other in. All rooms
are labeled. The boys' room is usually at the opposite end of the
building from that of the girls. Throughout the schools these rooms
are exceptionally free from obscene writing.

The Board of Education is speedily replacing metal urinals with
porcelain in old buildings. In a few of the newest buildings, the
old-style wooden seats are being replaced by wood or porcelain
seats with open fronts, and occasionally the metal body is replaced
by porcelain. In some buildings the stalls in the girls' toilet are
provided with doors.

This description held true for most of Cleveland's school
buildings, but it should be noted that while the toilet-rooms
in the newest schools w r ere distinctly better, there were no
schools in the system where conditions were shockingly bad.
There are very few cities in the country of which the same
thing could be said. The toilet-rooms in Cleveland needed
improvements, but the school board was aware of the fact
and conditions were rapidly changing. It is unfortunately
true that in most schools, even in our largest cities, toilet-
rooms are poorly planned, insanitary, dark, and badly
cared-for; and very little attempt is being made to remedy
the situation.

Location and lighting. In most schools it is probably best
to place large toilet-rooms in the basement, with smaller
rooms on each floor above, or between floors on stair land-
ings. Basement rooms should be so situated that the sec-
tions for boys and girls are entirely separated from each
other. Where possible the rooms should have a southern
outlook, so that they will be bathed in sunlight during much
of the day. Where the southern side is not available, an
eastern frontage should be chosen. As was stated earlier,
it is exceedingly desirable that basements should not be



TOILETS 107

sunk more than three feet below the grade level. One advan-
tage gained by the shallow excavation is that plenty of sun-
light is thereby made possible.

At least one layer of window glass should be made so that
it will admit light and sunshine, but will not allow objects
to be seen through it. Certain types of wire glass are excel-
lent for this purpose, since they admit light, are not trans-
parent, and are so constructed as to stand very rough treat-
ment. Where wire glass is not used it is usually desirable
to place an iron grating or screen outside the window. It
should be remembered, too, that schools are in session only
a small portion of each day. Before nine in the morning
and after four in the afternoon there is no reason why toilet-
rooms should not be exposed to direct sunlight by sliding
back the translucent glass windows usually used, and leaving
the windows either entirely open or screened with a single
thickness of clear glass panels. A little thought will suffice
to plan toilet-rooms so that they can actually be flooded
with sunlight for several hours each day.

Walls, ceilings, and floors. The walls of the toilet-room
should be white or very light-colored, so that they will
reflect light and reveal dirt; and they should be made of
some material which can be washed frequently, and which
presents a surface which cannot easily be disfigured with
knife-cuttings or pencil marks. White glazed brick or tile
set in cement makes an excellent basement wall, and is
not excessively expensive. The ceiling should be white, in
a hard, smooth finish, so that it can be washed occasionally
without harm. Toilet-room floors should not be made of
uncoated cement, because uric acid sets up a chemical
action which causes discoloration, and frequently gives
the characteristic toilet-room odor. Very little can be
done to remedy it. Good floors may be made with a ce-
ment foundation over which is laid a layer of asphaltum.



108 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

Asphaltum is impervious to water and uric acid, and makes
an excellent surface for toilet-rooms.

Floors should be provided with drains, so that they may-
be washed down with the hose; and should be slanting, so
that the water will run off readily. It is not unusual to find
new buildings thoroughly equipped with hose, glazed walls,
etc., yet built without drains, so that whatever water is
used for cleaning must either be wiped up by hand or allowed
to evaporate. Toilet-rooms should be separated from the rest
of the building by swinging doors, and each should be plainly
labeled "Boys' toilet," or "Girls' toilet," as the case may be.
Equipment per number of pupils. The Ohio State Build-
ing Code, the rules of the Indiana State Board of Health,
and the rules of the Commissioner of Education of New York
State require, as a minimum of accommodations for indoor
toilets, one toilet seat for every fifteen girls, one urinal for
every fifteen boys, and one seat for every twenty-five boys.
Other authorities suggest one urinal for every twenty-five
boys. In planning new buildings care should be taken to
provide equipment or connections so that new equipment
may be added for pupils in excess of the number expected
during the first year. When portables or additions to the
main building are erected, extra toilet provision should at
once be made.

Location of equipment. Care should be taken in installing
toilet equipment not to cut off light from the windows.
It is a common thing to find a long double row of stalls down
the center, standing so high that all the farther side of the
room is plunged in gloom. Closets should be placed around
the sides, with the openings facing toward the sunlight.
Urinals may be placed in the center if they are low enough
so as not to cut off light, but unless quarters are crowded
the plan of placing urinals against the wall is apt to be more
satisfactory.




z
o



s



r.

_:



T.



—




Fig. 17. Toilets

Not the right sort of toilets for a healthful school



TOILETS loo

Urinals. Metal urinals covered with two or three layers
of glazed paint are unsatisfactory, because after a compara-
tively short time the paint wears off and the metal becomes
corroded. Schools already equipped with metal urinals
should have them removed as speedily as possible, and
better types installed; otherwise the toilet-rooms will con-
tinue to give out an unpleasant odor. Disinfectants in the
toilet-room are a sure sign of defective installation or equip-
ment, and should not be used.

Urinals should be made of porcelain, marble, or glass.
Slate is often recommended, but is inferior to the materials
above listed because it is not entirely impervious to mois-
ture, and because it catches and holds dirt which cannot
be readily detected. The individual tip-bowl type of
urinal is probably not desirable for elementary schools,
because it gets out of order and is apt to be misused by the
boys. Common troughs are especially objectionable, and
should never be used. One of the most satisfactory tyj
is that made by stalls with division walls deep enough to
screen the occupants. The stalls incline forward toward
the bottom, and are continually flushed by overflow pi]
at the top which send a layer of water over the entire sur-
face. Water and urine are carried off by a narrow gutter at
the base of the stalls. The air of the toilet-room is drawn
down over this gutter and out to the ventilating stack.
There are now on the market urinals on a circular base with
radiating stalls which insure greater privacy, take up less
space, and are simpler in drainage and ventilation than the
wall urinal.

Latrines. The latrine is probably the simplest, cheapest,
and most commonly installed type of water-closet. Accord-
ing to this plan each row of closets is flushed at the same time
by a tank at the end of the row. This makes possible a type
of plumbing so simple that it rarely gets out of order, and is



110 HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS

therefore greatly favored by school-builders. On the other
hand, the latrine closet makes it impossible to flush one of
the closets without flushing the rest, and as the intervals
of flushing are automatically controlled, ten or fifteen min-
utes must sometimes elapse before the closet is swept with
water. It is usually possible and always desirable to regulate