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630 sea presents an extensive surface of organic decomposition. Under the same circumstances the sloping coral reefs to the south, alternately covered and exposed to the sun, emit offensive organic effluvia." To this must be added the intense heat and the inadequate protection afforded to the troops by tents. In an average strength of 344 officers the’admissions were 1235, the deaths 26 16, and the invalided 238 per 1000, " the latter being greatly increased by the effects of the ,Suakim and Nile campaigns." From the table showing the sickness and mortality by - corps, we find that the admissions were, in the cavalry 1909, -artillery and engineers 1547, infantry regiments 1523, depart- mental corps and staff 1214 per 1000; and the deaths were 45’45, 38’97, 24’80, and 47.62 in the arms respectively. The departmental corps and staff, therefore, had the lowest ratio of admissions and the highest of deaths, while the propor- tion of both was higher in the cavalry than in the ordnance and infantry. ___________ HYGIENE IN THE SCHOOL ROOM. GREAT as has been the advance made in recent times in a .general appreciation of the value of preventive medicine, there still exists widespread ignorance and consequent ,apathy on many points of vital importance to the commu- nity at large. Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in the school room, where, notwithstanding the lively interest which - the work of education awakens at the present time, insalu- brious conditions exist sometimes to a positively shocking ,extent. These reflections are suggested by the general tone of the recently issued Education Report. " It is time to attempt some further progress lest we go back," is the language of one of the chief inspectors, and it not inaptly expresses the general drift of comment. This would be highly satisfac- tory and very laudable if the solid facts of the case justified .such a rose-coloured view of the nature of our actual achieve- ments. But we strongly suspect that we are much nearer the beginning than the end of our task, and that the directions in which improvement must be sought are sufficiently obvious to call for energetic effort without the somewhat artificial stimulus of a dread lest we should lose the ground already gained. To school managers throughout the country, and especially to the central department, which, by its elaborate organisation, exerts an enormous influence - on the national education, we commend a few points well fitted and well worthy to tax their endeavours for some time to come. WARMING ANT1 VENTILATION I To these two closely connected and most important features of school-room hygiene the references throughout the report are extremely few and meagre. But such as they are, they show conclusively that the prevailing condition is highly unsatisfactory. " It is still," writes one inspector, speaking particularly of the north of England, "quite a common thing at visits without notice to find the air of schools, especially in the class rooms, unwholesomely close." ’The evil, however, is by no means confined to the north. Even more emphatic is the testimony of the chief inspector for the Welsh division. " The ventilation of schools," he says, "is seldom good"; and he casts the blame partly on the appliances supplied, but in part also upon the teachers, who often fail, in his view, to turn such appliances as they have to good account. As to the latter part of this com- plaint, there ought to be no difficulty whatever in find- ing a remedy for the mischief complained of. A due appreciation of the importance of the point on the part of inspectors and managers would soon arouse teachers to a sense of their duty, and the judicious distribution of a few thermometers would not only give a business importance to the regulation of temperature, but would also enable visitors to exercise a much more effective supervision than Js at present possible. It is easy to understand that when the inspector thinks a room over-heated, or unequally warmed, or at too low a temperature, or insufficiently supplied with fresh air, the teacher may entertain an opposite opinion, and as the teacher is always in command, while the visitor’s authority is very transitory, it is the teacher’s view which must generally prevail. On this foot- ing it will be a hopeless task to attempt effecting improve- ments ; but much might be done by the simple expedient to which we have alluded. Thermometers will not, indeed, disclose all that it is worth while to know respecting even the warming of an apartment. But two instruments, suit- ably placed, so as fairly to exhibit the extremes of temperature to which occupants of any room are exposed, will always be a valuable addition to its furniture, and, seeing that thermometers are inexpensive, we think that these should be an indispensable part of the equipment of every school room. Even in the matter of stoves, although the difficulty looks more serious, the appearance is greatly worse than the reality. The obstacle to improvement in this respect is, of course, the financial one. But that is in a large degree imaginary, for an inefficient stove is a most wasteful con- trivance. The cost of substituting something better may be recovered many times over in the consequent saving of fuel. No doubt in many places there are buildings in use for school purposes so incorrigibly bad that nothing short of reconstruction would suffice to make them reasonably fit for occupation. In such a case the renovation must no doubt be a work of time. But where it is only a question of re- placing an open grate, or making, at a small outlay, some improvement in the heating apparatus, we think that the central authorities might usefully bring pressure to bear upon reluctant managers, for not only would the hygienic conditions of the school beimproved, but also, in most cases, a considerable and more than commensurate saving in the cost of fuel would be effected. A little assistance to the local imagination in grasping a fact like this is often the best service that the central authority can render. How much this whole subject needs bringing forcibly to the attention of school managers is well illustrated by the case of the Eccleston School Board. The members of this Board, with the most commendable zeal, take upon themselves the duty of inspecting the schools under their management. On these occasions the visitor is provided with a schedule of questions directing his attention to the various points which he is expected to observe, and these questions with his answers he files after the visit. Of this plan it is impossible to speak too highly, and of the schedule itself it may be said that it has evidently been drawn up with great care, and is in many respects an excellent production. But although it travels over the field of hygiene, and puts such questions as " Does the heat- ing apparatus act efficiently? " there is no reference at all to the temperature or ventilation of the school or class rooms. " If these things are done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry ? " APPLIANCES. Another point to which the majority of the inspectors do not seem to be keenly alive is the defective nature of the appliances with which most of our schools are fitted. Desks are made unsuitable both in size and shape. Windows are rendered needlessly hideous with ground glass, and some- times so situated that it is impossible to obtain an incident ray from the proper angle for writing by. These points are so well put in Mr. Blakiston’s report that we gladly avail ourselves of his statement of them :- " At a properly constructed desk, the lower edge of which overlaps the seat from one to two inches, at a height sufficient to allow the fore- arms to rest horizontally, and where a rail attached to the back of a broad and hollowed seat supports the loins, writing may be done for an hour or more at a stretch without any sense of discomfort, or any injury to eyesight or spine, if an upright position of the body be maintained, and if the writer keep his elbows by his sides and his pencil or pen pointed to his right shoulder. Unfortunately many thousands of our schools are supplied with desks made with utter disregard to the comfort and health of the scholars. The seats, flat rails some six inches broad and with- out back rests, are fixed so far from the desk for ease of ingress and egress, that in writing the children sprawl on the desks with elbows out, bodies forming an angle of 45° with the bench, twisted spines and contorted stiouldt-rs. the head often resting on the left arm, both eyes too near to the paper, and the left eye nearer than the right. Very often the height of the benches suggests that they have been supplied for the comfort of adults on Sundays and in evening meetings, to the consequent discomfort of the children, whose legs dangle restless during the week-day sittings. In planning schools it is of great importance that light should be duly admitted on the left shoulders of the children. If the light come from the south. blinds should be so arranged as to be drawn upward, so as to exclude the dazzling rays from the eyes, but not to darken the upper air of the room. Non-transparent glass, the use of which throughout spoils many a good school room, should be used only in the lower panes, and that only where a school can be overlooked from without. Where it has been found impossible to rearrange desks so as to have the light from the left, the insertion of fixed skylights on the northern slope has in hundreds of cases made it possible to secure the best light and to carry on school work that had been before impracticable in dark hours." Elsewhere another inspector writes-not, surely, without reason : " I think the subject of desks and their position in the school demands serious attention."
