EBook of Civics and Health, by William H. Allen pptx

The gratitude of every lover of hiscountry and his kind is due to the authorfor his interesting and vivid presentation of the outlines of a subject fundamental to the health, the happine

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Title: Civics and Health

Author: William H Allen

Contributor: William T Sedgwick

Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21353] Language: English

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LOUIS AGASSIZ

"A natural law is as sacred as a

moral principle"

CIVICS AND HEALTH

BY

WILLIAM H ALLEN

S ECRETARY , B UREAU OF M UNICIPAL R ESEARCH

F ORMER S ECRETARY OF THE N EW Y ORK

C OMMITTEE ON P HYSICAL W ELFARE OF

S CHOOL C HILDREN , A UTHOR OF "E FFICIENT

D EMOCRACY " AND "R URAL

S ANITARY A DMINISTRATION IN P ENNSYLVANIA ,"

J OINT A UTHOR

OF "S CHOOL R EPORTS AND S CHOOL

E FFICIENCY "

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

WILLIAM T SEDGWICK

P ROFESSOR OF B IOLOGY IN THE M ASSACHUSETTS

I NSTITUTE OF T ECHNOLOGY

GINN AND COMPANY

BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO ·

LONDON

E NTERED AT S TATIONERS ' H ALL

C OPYRIGHT , 1909

B Y WILLIAM H ALLEN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

910.4

The Athenæum Press

GINN AND COMPANY ·

PROPRIETORS · BOSTON · U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION

It is a common weakness of mankind

to be caught by an idea and captivated

by a phrase To rest therewith content

and to neglect the carrying of the ideainto practice is a weakness still morecommon It is this frequent failure ofreformers to reduce their theories topractice, their tendency to dwell in thecloudland of the ideal rather than to test

it in action, that has often made themdistrusted and unpopular

With our forefathers the phrase mens

sana in corpore sano was a high

favorite It was constantly quoted withapproval by writers on hygiene andsanitation, and used as the text or thefinale of hundreds of popular lectures.And yet we shall seek in vain for anyevidence of its practical usefulness Itswords are good and true, but passiveand actionless, not of that dynamic type

where words are "words indeed, butwords that draw armed men behindthem."

Our age is of another temper It yearnsfor reality It no longer rests satisfiedwith mere ideas, or words, or phrases.The modern Ulysses would drink life tothe dregs The present age is dissatisfiedwith the vague assurance that the Lordwill provide, and, rightly or wrongly, isbeginning to expect the state to provide.And while this desire for reality has itsdrawbacks, it has also its advantages.Our age doubts absolutely the virtues ofblind submission and resignation, andcries out instead for prevention andamelioration Disease is no longerregarded, as Cruden regarded it, as the

penalty and the consequence of sin.Nature herself is now perceived to becapable of imperfect work Time waswhen the human eye was referred to as aperfect apparatus, but the number ofyoung children wearing spectaclesrenders that idea untenable to-day.

Meanwhile the multiplication of stateasylums and municipal hospitals, andspecial schools for deaf or blindchildren and for cripples, speakseloquently and irresistibly of an intimateconnection between civics and health.There is a physical basis of citizenship,

as there is a physical basis of life and ofhealth; and any one who will take thetrouble to read even the Table ofContents of this book will see that for

Dr Allen prevention is a text and themaking of sound citizens a sermon.Given the sound body, we havenowadays small fear for the sound mind.The rigid physiological dualism implied

in the phrase mens sana in corpore sano

is no longer allowed To-day the soundbody generally includes the sound mind,and vice versa If mental dullness be due

to imperfect ears, the remedy lies inmedical treatment of those organs,—not

in education of the brain If lack ofinitiative or energy proceeds fromdefective ặration of the blood due toadenoids blocking the air tides in thewindpipe, then the remedy lies not inbetter teaching but in a simple surgicaloperation

Shakespeare, in his wildwood play,saw sermons in stones and books in therunning brooks We moderns find adrama in the fateful lives of ordinarymortals, sermons in their physicalsalvation from some of the ills that flesh

is heir to, and books—like this of Dr.Allen's—in striving to teach mankindhow to become happier, and healthier,and more useful members of society

Dr Allen is undoubtedly a reformer,but of the modern, not the ancient, type

He is a prophet crying in our presentwilderness; but he is more than aprophet, for he is always intenselypractical, insisting, as he does, ongetting things done, and done soon, anddone right

No one can read this volume, or evenits chapter-headings, without surpriseand rejoicing: surprise, that the physicalbasis of effective citizenship has hithertobeen so utterly neglected in America;rejoicing, that so much in the way of theprevention of incapacity andunhappiness can be so easily done, and

is actually beginning to be done

The gratitude of every lover of hiscountry and his kind is due to the authorfor his interesting and vivid presentation

of the outlines of a subject fundamental

to the health, the happiness, and thewell-being of the people, and hence ofthe first importance to every Americancommunity, every American citizen

WILLIAM T SEDGWICKMassachusetts Institute of Technology

CONTENTS

PART I HEALTH RIGHTS

I Health a Civic

Rights are not

V Mouth Breathing 45

VI Catching

Diseases, Colds,

Diseased Glands 57VII Eye Strain 72VIII Ear Trouble,

Things at School 159XVII American

Industrial

Efficiency 208XXIII Industrial

XXIV The Last Days of

Tuberculosis 229XXV The Fight for

Clean Milk 252XXVI Preventive

"Humanized"

Medicine:

Physician and

Teacher 268PART IV OFFICIAL

MACHINERY FOR ENFORCING

HEALTH RIGHTS

XXVII Departments of

School Hygiene 283XXVIII Present

Machinery for

enforcing Health

XXX School and

Health Reports 310

PART V ALLIANCE OFHYGIENE, PATRIOTISM, AND

Effective Ways

of Combating

Alcoholism 343XXXV Is it Practicable

in presenting toChildren theEvils ofAlcoholism totell the Truth, theWhole Truth, andNothing but the

Advertisementsthat Promote

XXXIX Is Class

Instruction in Sex

CIVICS AND HEALTH

PART I.

HEALTH

RIGHTS

CHAPTER I

HEALTH A CIVIC OBLIGATION

In forty-five states and territories theteaching of hygiene with special

reference to alcohol and tobacco ismade compulsory To hygiene alone, ofthe score of subjects found in ourmodern grammar-school curriculum, isgiven statutory right of way for so manyminutes per week, so many pages pertext-book, or so many pages per chapter.For the neglect of no other study mayteachers be removed from office andfined Yet school garrets and closets arefull of hygiene text-books unopened orlittle used, while of all subjects taught

by five hundred thousand Americanteachers and studied by twenty millionAmerican pupils the least interesting toboth teacher and pupil is that forcedupon both by state legislation Tocomplete the paradox, this least

interesting subject happens also to be themost vital to the child, to the home, toindustry, to social welfare, and toeducation itself.

Whether the subject of hygiene isnecessarily dull, whether the statutesrequiring regular instruction in the laws

of health are violated with impunity,whether health principles are flaunted byhealth practice at school,—these arequestions of immediate concern toparents as a class, to employers as aclass, to every pastor, every civicleader, every health officer, everytaxpayer

Interviews with teachers andprincipals regarding the present apathy

to formal hygiene instruction havebrought out the following points thatmerit the serious consideration of thosewho are struggling for higher healthstandards.

1 There is many a slip 'twixt the

making of a law and its enforcement If

laws regarding hygiene instruction arenot enforced, we should not besurprised It has been nobody's business

to see whether and how hygiene is beingtaught The moral crusade spent itself inforcing compulsory laws upon the statutebooks of every state and territory

Making a fetish of Legislation, the

advocates of alcohol and tobacco instruction failed to see the truththat experienced political reformers are

anti-but slowly coming to see—Legislation

which does not provide machinery for its own enforcement is apt to do little good and frequently will do much harm Machinery, however admirably

adapted to the work to be done, will getout of order and become useless, or evenharmful, unless constantly watched andefficiently directed Of what possibleuse is it to say that state money may bewithheld from any school board whichfails to enforce the law regardinginstruction in hygiene, if state officialsnever enforce the penalty? So long as thepenalty is not enforced for flagrantviolation, what difference does it makewhether the reason is indifference,ignorance, or desire to thwart the law?

Fortunately, it is easy for each one of us

to learn how often and in what way thechildren in our community are beingtaught hygiene, and how the schools ofour state teach and practice the laws ofhealth If either the spirit or the letter ofthe law regarding instruction in hygiene

is being violated, we can measure thepenalty paid in health and morals by ourchildren and our community We canlearn whether law, text-book,curriculum, or teacher should bechanged We can insist upon discussion

of the facts and upon remedies suggested

by the facts

2 Teachers give as one reason for

neglecting hygiene, that they are often compelled to struggle with a

curriculum which requires more than they are able to teach and more than pupils are able to learn in the time allowed While an overchargedcurriculum may explain, it surely doesnot justify, the violation of law and thedropping of hygiene from our schoolcurriculum If there is any class ofcitizen who should teach and practicerespect for law as law, it is the teacher.Parents, school directors, county andstate superintendents, universitypresidents, social workers, owe it notonly to themselves, but to the Americanschool-teacher, either to repeal the lawsthat enjoin instruction in hygiene or else

so to adjust the curriculum that teacherscan comply with those laws The present

situation that discredits both law andhygiene is most demoralizing to teacher,pupil, and community Many of us mightadmire the man teacher who frankly says

he never explains the evils of cigarettesbecause he himself is an inveteratesmoker of cigarettes But what must wethink of the school system that shifts tosuch a man the right and theresponsibility of deciding whether or not

to explain to underfed andoverstimulated children of the slums thetruth regarding cigarettes? If practiceand precept must be consistent, shall theman be removed, shall he change hishabits, shall the law regardinginstruction in hygiene be changed, orshall other provision be made for

bringing child and essential factstogether in a way that will not dull thechild's receptivity?

3 Teachers are made to feel that

while arithmetic and reading are essential, hygiene is not essential.

Whatever may be the facts regarding therelative value of arithmetic and hygiene,whether or not our state legislators havemade a mistake in declaring hygiene to

be essential, are questions altogether tooimportant for child and state to be left tothe discretion of the individual teacher

or superintendent It is fair to theteachers who say they cannot afford toturn aside from the three R's to teachhygiene, to admit that they have nothitherto identified the teaching of

hygiene with the promotion of thephysical welfare of children Teachersawake to the opportunity will sacrificenot only hygiene but any other subject forthe sake of promoting children's health.They do not really believe thatarithmetic is more important than health.What they mean to say is that hygiene, astaught by them, has not heretofore had anappreciable effect upon their pupils'health; that other agencies exist, outside

of the school, to teach the child how toavoid certain diseases and how toobserve the fundamental laws of health,whereas no other agencies exist to givethe child the essentials of arithmetic,reading, and geography "We teach (ortry to teach) what our classes are

examined in If you want a subjecttaught, you must test a class in it andhold a teacher responsible for results,and examinations are mercilesslyunhygienic, you know."

4 Teachers believe that they get

better results for their children from teaching hygiene informally and indirectly than from stated formal lessons Whether instruction should be

informal or formal is merely a question

of method to be determined by results.What the results are, can be determined

by principals, superintendents, andstudents of education It is easy tounderstand how at the time of a feverepidemic children could be taught asmuch in one week about infection,

disease germs, antiseptics, value ofcleanliness, etc., as in five or ten monthswhen vivid illustration is lacking.Physicians themselves learn more fromone epidemic of smallpox than from fouryears of book study To make possibleand to require a daily shower bath willundoubtedly do more to inculcate habits

of health than repeated lessons about theskin, pores, evaporation, and discharge

of impurities

If one illustration is better than tenlessons, if an open window is worthmore than all that text-books have to sayabout ventilation, if a seat adjusted to thechild is better than an anatomical chart,this does not mean that instruction inhygiene should cease On the contrary, it