t schools"?
133. Why should not the child be induced to stand or walk, either
naturally or artificially, at too early an age?

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134. _The benches or chairs for children in a school-room should be of
such a height as to permit the feet to rest on the floor._ If the
bench is so high as not to permit the feet to rest upon the floor, the
weight of the limbs below the knee may cause the flexible bone of the
thigh to become curved. The child thus seated, is inclined to lean
forward, contracting an injurious and ungraceful habit. Again, when
the feet are not supported, the child soon becomes exhausted,
restless, and unfit for study. In the construction of a school-room,
the benches should be of different heights, so as to be adapted to the
different pupils, and they should also have appropriate backs.

[Illustration: Fig. 29. The position assumed when the seat is of proper
height, and the feet supported.]

[Illustration: Fig. 30. The position a child naturally assumes when the
seat is so high that the feet are not supported.]

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134. What is said of the benches or chairs in a school-room? What is
represented by fig. 29? By fig. 30? What is the effect when the lower
limbs are not supported?

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135. _Compression of the chest should be avoided._ In children, and
also in adults, the ribs are very flexible, and a small amount of
pressure will increase their curvature, particularly at the lower part
of the chest, and thus lessen the size of this cavity. The lower ribs
are united to the breast-bone, by long, yielding cartilages, and
compression may not only contract the chest, but an unseemly and
painful ridge may be produced, by the bending of the cartilages, on
one or both sides of the sternum.

[Illustration: Fig. 31. A natural and well-proportioned chest.]

[Illustration: Fig. 32. A chest fashionably deformed.]

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135. Why should compression of the chest be avoided? What is
represented by fig. 31? By fig. 32?

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136. Again, the cartilages on one side may be bent outward, while
those on the opposite side are bent inward, thus forming a depression
parallel with the sternum. In some instances, the anterior extremity
of the lower ribs on each side are brought nearly or quite together.
In these instances, the movable extremities of the ribs are drawn down
toward the haunch-bones, while t