Second International Congress on School Hygiene, London, August 5th-10th, 1907 : inaugural address / by Sir Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
1907
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Second International Congress on School Hygiene, London, August 5th-10th, 1907 : inaugural address / by Sir Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    may be attacked. In order to prevent this it is necessary that the chil- dren should have as much fresh air and sunshine as possible, that the ventilation of the school-rooms should be perfect, and the children be in the open air whenever it can be managed. A most important departure in this respect is the recent establishment by the London County Council of a Waldschule, or open-air school at Abbey Wood, where weakly children get the open air, rest and abundant food requisite to restore them to health and strength. The necessity of separate training for children who are mentally deficient is already generally recognised, but much will be learned regard- ing the subject in the present Congress from comparison of the methods used for training in different countries. Separate schools for cripples are now being established, and the careful training in handicrafts which they receive there may perhaps give children afflicted in this way an advantage in after life over their more fortunate fellows. But while it is good to train them, it is still better to prevent their becoming cripples, and this could, to a great extent, be done by medical inspection, which would detect at an early stage, the tuberculosis of the joints which causes most of the distorted limbs. The technical training which the cripples at present receive ought not to be limited to them, but ought to form a part of the regular teaching which will fit both boys and girls for their duties in after life. In many cases, where the deformity is slight, it may be cured by a proper system of physical exercise. Not only is this the case, but there can be little doubt that proper physical training of children during the period of growth is one of the best means of ensuring proper development. In some countries this is carried out more especially by systematic exercise, which develops the muscles, while in this country we depend more upon games. Both of these systems leave something to be desired, and the ideal system is to be looked for in a proper combination of both. But the amount and kind of physical exercise which is proper for one child may be either excessive for another or inadequate for a third, and only by medical inspection can physical exercise be adapted to the needs of each child. Exercise both of mind and body is good, and when carried only to the proper extent, it increases the strength of the child both bodily and mentally, but if carried beyond this point, so as to cause fatigue and exhaustion, it has the opposite effect and produces diminished power both of body and brain. One of the most difficult and yet one of the most important questions of school hygiene is how to combine educational work with physical training so that both shall be productive of benefit, and not of injury, to the child. Proper alternation of mental and physical exercise is one means of preventing this, but attention must also be paid to the nature of the physical exercise. The movements of drill at the word of command, and the performance of new and unaccustomed muscular actions involve considerable mental, as well as bodily, fatigue, and must not be looked upon as relaxation. Marching or dancing to music after the steps have already been learned, and regular play, such as games of ball, tend, on the contrary, to remove mental fatigue and to develop the body. One of the most useful stimulants to the circulation and nutrition, both of children and of grown-up people, is pleasure, and anything that adds to it helps to develop both mind and body. There is a great fear