harmful to sit all humped over as it is to stand in such a
position. The nervous system cannot be maintained at its best unless
the spine is held reasonably erect. Whether sitting or standing,
therefore, it is important that you should make a never-ending struggle
for a straight spine.

If the back of the chair in which you sit is not properly made then it
is better, in most cases, to ignore the back altogether. Sit
slightly forward from the back and maintain an erect position, with the
chin held in, downward and backward. In this position you should
sit well balanced, as it were. The chest should occupy the same
relative position as when standing erect. If you will hold the head in
the position I have indicated it will help you to keep the chest and
back in the right position. As a general thing, it is a much more
simple matter to maintain this erect position when sitting, if either
one foot, or both feet, are drawn back under the chair. When both feet
are stretched out forward upon the floor a person is inclined to sag
backward in a partially reclining position upon the chair. By holding
one foot underneath the chair in such a manner that you could rise to a
standing position, if desired, without lurching forward, you will find
it easy to maintain a well balanced and erect posture. If at any
time you find yourself slumping forward or slouching in your seat, it is
good to stretch your arms high above the head, or to expand the chest
and draw your shoulders backward in the position commonly assumed
when yawning and stretching. Either of these stretching movements
will give you an erect position, and you can maintain this thereafter by
keeping the head in the right position-chin inward, downward and
backward. These stretching movements will be equally effective for
improving the carriage when standing.

The same complaint that I have made against the ordinary chair can be
registered with special force against the desks used in the
schoolrooms. There is no question that a great deal of spinal curvature
in childhood, to say nothing of round shoulders and flat chests, are
directly the result of the improper sitting posture in the schools
which is enforced upon the children because of the unsuitable character
of their seating arrangements. Thus we practically begin life hampered
by an unsatisfactory environment, so far as our sitting posture is
concerned.

The chair back o