secure good light has been demonstrated to be an important cause of near-sight in scholars. The desired object can be attained by reserving a tolerably wide strip of land around the school building at the outset, and by municipal regulations restricting the height of neighboring structures. It is suggested that the height of such buildings around school-houses should not exceed one half the distance between them and the school-house; or, that the line drawn from the foot of the school-house wall to the upper part of the other house, should not form an angle with the horizon exceeding 30°. In small towns the space. for play-grounds should be much greater—at least a half

acre.

2. Sunlight.-If possible, the sun should enter every room in the house at some time in the day, but chiefly out of school hours. The play-grounds should be placed, if it can be so arranged, on the sunny side of the house. There should be no trees overshadowing the house, since this causes dampness.

3. Neighborhood.-Disturbing influences, as the presence of large bodies of working people, railroads, noisy streets, engine-houses, are injurious for various reasons, partly as furnishing undesirable outside associations. Immorality or filth should not be suggested in the surrounding neighborhood. A main city street is commonly to be avoided. The vicinity of offensive trades, as tanneries, rendering establishments, refineries, and gas-works, is to be avoided.

4. Soil. A damp soil is of itself a serious objection to a site. The case is worse if the site be low, with poor natural drainage and poor opportunity for artificial relief. If it be necessary to build on a springy piece of ground, a trench must be dug around the foundation to a depth below the cellar floor, and far enough from the building to insure the safety of the walls; in this, drain tile with loose joints is laid, discharging away from the building at some lower point. It is useless to cement the cellar floor for the

purpose of excluding water, but cement or asphalt forms a good protection against dampness.

School yards in towns should be so paved (not gravelled), and underdrained if necessary, as to become dry within an hour after a rain. Dry walks should lead to the out-buildings.

5. Out-Buildings.—If privies are employed, they should never be within fifty feet of the main building. They should be separate for the sexes, with entirely separate paths of access, and having a board fence between. Dry earth or sifted ashes should be sprinkled over the contents once a day. The entire contents should be removed once a fortnight. The receptacle must be so constructed that such removal can be effected easily and completely; or it should itself be removable with its contents. An iron trough on wheels, or a metal pail is suggested.

Urinals must not be made of iron, and they had better not be made of any metal. Impervious material, such as glass or oiled slate, is best. Cement is very objectionable from its porosity. Joints between slabs should be perfectly tight.

6. Water-Closets.—When a supply of water is at hand, water-closets are the best arrangement. They may either be single, or may consist of long troughs corresponding to a number of seats. The pan closet is undesirable, since its inner parts are not freely cleansed by the flow of water. Of the simpler forms of closets, all those which do not furnish a quick and free discharge of water, cleansing the bowl thoroughly and removing all the contents within a few seconds, are to be absolutely rejected. A noisy apparatus is exceedingly objectionable for closets which are placed (e. g., for teachers' use) in the vicinity of schoolrooms; the noise may proceed either from the tank or the basin.

One of the simplest forms of apparatus for schools is the long tank of cement or iron placed under the range of

seats.

The bottom is covered with a few inches of water, and slopes to an outlet so that by raising a plug the whole contents are quickly discharged into the sewer, after which cleansing is easily effected by a hose and broom. The addition of an automatic flushing apparatus acting spontaneously at fixed intervals has been found desirable.

All closets and urinals in a school-house must have special ventilation by forced draught. No mechanical contrivances or disinfectors do away with the necessity of personal inspection and faithful cleansing by hand.

7. Plumbing.—The principles of drainage and sewerage, commonly termed the art of plumbing, are the same for school buildings, as for other edifices. It may be stated that pipes and other fixtures ought to be so placed that they can be seen by lifting movable boards, without having recourse to a carpenter, or mason, or plumber, to disclose their intricacies.

It should be further understood that the whole system is under the control and supervision of some responsible and intelligent person, who possesses sufficient plans and drawings of the system, and pays frequent attention to its condition.

CONSTRUCTION.

1. Safety. The chief danger is found in old buildings and in those not originally intended for their present use. In such we occasionally find conditions which are nearly sure to cause accidents in case of a panic. The staircase is the important point. It must be very strong, wide, and easy; not steep, not sharp-angled, nor spiral or with wedgeshaped steps; it should have a platform at the turn. It is safer without a well; if balusters are used they must be high. In large buildings a staircase should be placed at each end. Halls and outer doors must be wide, and all doors open outward. Fire-escapes on the out-side are at best an undesirable refuge, and in the ordinary forms may be very dangerous to a crowd of frightened children. Discipline

and practice in "fire-drill" or quick, orderly march from the school are by far the best safeguards.

2. The School-Room.-The size of a class-room should be governed by the number of pupils it is intended for. If we assume that fifty can be attended to by the teacher, and that 200 cubic feet of space is allowed per head, a room 24×33×12 will answer well. The oblong shape is desirable. If the dimensions here given are exceeded in length, there will be difficulty on the teacher's part in supervision and on the scholars' part in seeing what the teacher may show or write on the board. A greater depth or distance from the windows than 24 feet will impair the lighting.

3. Illumination.—The lighting of a room for school-work requires a much larger allowance of window space than is needed for dwellings. The windows must be square headed, and brought very near the ceiling; there must be no projections (cornices, piazzas, Italian shades) to interfere with the free entrance of light. The total amount of window-glass on a liberal allowance may equal one fifth the floor space; if fully exposed to the sky, less will suffice. Roller-shades are of most use when the roller is placed at the foot of the window. Light coming wholly from one side (viz., the left hand) if sufficient in amount is best for the eyes; if this plan in any case appears likely to give insufficient lighting, owing to local conditions, windows may be added at the back, possibly also at the right (but in the latter case at a very high level). Windows in front of the pupils are very injurious to the sight. The wall should be colored of a neutral tint, or with a faint shade of blue or green if liked. The ceiling should be white. It must have no cross-beams placed transversely to the light. Blackboards must be placed between windows.

4. Miscellaneous.-The size of recitation-rooms must be planned upon the same principle as that of school-roomsviz., that of allowing 200 cubic feet per scholar.

It is desirable, when possible, to limit the height of a building to two stories above the street, inasmuch as injury not infrequently results from the excessive strain of climbing upstairs.

Accommodations for hanging clothes should be furnished outside of class-rooms, with good provision for ventilation. Enclosed spaces in the halls, open at top and bottom, are suitable.

Cellars or basements must be high, dry, well lighted, and thoroughly wholesome. If there is no cellar, there must be a dry sub-floor space under the whole building.

Dust being a destroyer to pure air and a foe to health, care must be taken to avoid for floors such material as produces dust,-if of cement, it must not crumble; if of wood, it must be "filled" so as to be impervious.

VENTILATION AND HEATING.

A very large proportion of schools are so poorly provided with ventilating arrangements that they are practically dependent upon open windows. To relieve this unfortunate state of things, the lower sash may be raised two inches (less in stormy weather) and a board placed in front to deflect the air upward. The upper sash (which ought always to be movable) may be lowered an inch. These measures are attended with little risk, and give perceptible though partial relief.

Perforations in the sash, window pane, or wall, also give some relief. Such methods may provide sufficient air for five or six persons in a room, but are entirely inadequate for the supply of a whole class.

The attempt to ventilate school-rooms in cold weather by the windows in the northern United States is either very dangerous to health or very ineffective, or both. The amount which can safely be admitted in this way may be one fifth to one tenth of what is needed. The existence of ventilating flues or openings does not of itself insure