ENTILATION OF SCHOOL ROOMS. The depression and faintness from which
many students suffer, after being confined in a poorly ventilated school
room, is clearly traceable to vitiated air, while the evil is often
ascribed to excessive mental exertion. The effect of ventilation upon
the health of students is a subject of universal interest to parents and
educators, and at present is receiving the marked attention of school
authorities. Dr. F. Windsor, of Winchester, Mass., made a few pertinent
remarks upon this subject in the annual report of the State Board of
Health, of Massachusetts, 1874. One of the institutions, which was
spoken of in the report of 1873, as a _model_, in the warming and
ventilation of which much care had been bestowed, was visited in
December, 1873. He reports as follows: "I visited several of the rooms,
and found the air in all, offensive to the smell, the odor being such as
one would imagine old boots, dirty clothes, and perspiration would make
if boiled down together;" again, in the new _model_ school-house the hot
air enters at two registers in the floor on one side, and makes (or is
supposed to make) its exit by a ventilator at the floor, on the other
side of the room." The master said "_the air was supposed to have some
degree of intelligence, and to know that the ventilator was its proper
exit_." Thorough ventilation has been neglected by many school officials
on account of the increased expense it causes. In our climate, during
seven months at least, pure atmospheric air must be paid for. The
construction of vertical ducts, the extra amount of fuel, and the
attendant expenditures are the objections which, in the opinion of many
persons, outweigh the health and happiness of the future generation. It
is necessary for the proper ventilation of our school rooms that an
adequate supply of fresh air should be admitted, which should be warmed
before being admitted to the room, and which should be discharged as
contaminated, after its expiration. The proper ventilation of the school
room consists in the warming and introduction of fresh air from without,
and the discharge of the expired and unwholesome air from within. This
may be accomplished by means of doors, windows, chimneys, and finally by
ventilators placed, one near the level of the floor, and the other near
the ceiling of the room. The ventilators ought to be arranged on the
opposite sides of the room, in order to insure a current, and an
abundan