Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/545

Rh company it is allowed to keep, the books it is permitted to read, should be the subject of 'the greatest care. John Stuart Blackie once said that the most inspiring thing for a young man was to be placed in the company of great and good men; and next to being in their company was to read their books and to read about them.

But while it is of the greatest importance that the experiences to which the child is exposed are of the best possible character, it is no less important that the nervous system and the sense organs of the child be in a sound and normal condition. The state, through the public-school system, is supplying buildings and teachers at great expense. All this outlay is for the purpose of imparting learning to the rising generation. Is it not right and proper that the state should see that the children upon whom this enormous sum of money is being spent are in a fit condition to receive the education that is offered? One would hardly think of any government spending millions upon an army, and making no selection of the men who were to form this army. Further, when the authorities had selected the men for the army, they would surely see that the benefits of training and drill would not be destroyed by dissipation and irregular habits among the soldiery.

Thus I think it is clearly the duty of the state to exercise its authority in the suppression of injurious books, papers, and advertisements. It is high time that stringent steps were taken in this direction. It does seem strange that large sums are paid annually to furnish children with good reason and morals, and at the same time numerous presses are turning out tons of reading matter of the most degrading and perverting nature. There is still another reform that could be well introduced. A proper medical inspector should be appointed to examine schools and determine their sanitary condition. All matters of drainage, heating, lighting, and ventilation would be subjects for his consideration. It is hardly to be expected that the nervous system and special senses of the pupils will be healthy if these children are pent up for a good portion of the day in an unhealthy schoolroom. Further, it ought to be the duty of this medical inspector to give the pupils of each school under his control regular instruction on hygiene, and especially on the hygiene of study and the care of the sense organs. A teacher may be a very intelligent person, yet the ordinary reading he may have bestowed upon these topics would not enable him to do them the same justice that a well-educated and experienced medical practitioner could. Cases of melancholia, hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, defects of vision, and such like, would be sent home by him for proper rest and treatment.

Children learn best what they like best. Pleasure in their