VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 25, 1910.
NO. 26
Written  for the  Indiana  Farmer
THE TEACHER'S HEAI/TH.
By Dr. J. N. Hurty, State Health Commissioner.
A teacher who has ill health ia indeed a sorry one. An anaemic, nervous,   headachey,     dyspeptic     teacher,
The following day I sat in the school
rooms of three of these teachers and
closely observed them. Their foreheads were knitted, their lips and
hands trembled, they spoke sharply
and impatiently to their pupils and it
was plain they were driving themselves.      Their  work  was  not a  pleasure
teacher had a "dry-cough" and that
peculiar cast of countenance which indicates consumption. One physician
said he had examined the person and
she undoubtedly did have consumption
and he had told her so, but she did not
believe him, and had gone to another
doctor who assured her she had a sim-
ers down. Bad air, poor light, much
looking into the light which is sure to
occur in rooms lighted from two or
more sides, unevenly warmed rooms,
glossy blackboards, repulsive outhouses causing bodily neglect, dirty
floors, gas leaking stoves and furnaces,
cold   lunches,   exposure   and   too   much
=
Canoe  racing on White River; one of the sum mer  amusements   of    Indianapolis  residents.
can not teach. She can hold school, and
that is all. At a certain teacher's institute I attended last year I made an
hour's study of the teachers in the
audience, counting those who had
white lips, lack luster eyes, weary manners, poorly nourished faces, etc., and
concluded that forty per cent were not
strong and healthy. In a certain
city I addressed the entire teaching
force, fourteen in number, and with the
exception of the superintendent, not
one bore the characters of good health.
Pale lips, sallow skins, blotches, dull
eyes, lanquid manners, dyspeptic features, bad teeth, and drawn looks, told
their story.
to them, but a task to wade through
and be over with. To a prominent
physician of that city I detailed my
observation. He told me that one of
the more delicate of the number had
a slight lateral curvature of the spine
which she certainly had acquired from
an ill-fitting seat and desk when a
child. By the way one teacher held
her book I suspected astigmatism, and
the physician confirmed the observation, saying he had told the lady her
headaches would not yield to medicines, all kinds of which she was taking, and that glasses were needed. She
said glasses were very unbecoming to
her and she wouldn't wear them.    One
pie "stomach cough," whatever that is.
I am positive not one of the number
was fit to teach children. Every one
should have been in a sanitorium taking treatment.
It would be Interesting to know what
percentage of Indiana's teachers wou«J
pass a moderate physical examination.
The vital statistics of the State Board of
Health show that teachers have higher
morbidity and mortality rates than prevails in general life, and the U. S. statistics show the same. Teachers have the
same home surroundings as housekeepers, yet they have higher sickness and
death rates. It therefore must be the
school environment which pulls teach-
standlng at the catamenial period, are
all factors which contribute to ill
health among teachers. It is not necessary that a single one of the conditions
named should exist. Each and every
one, whenever and wherever they ap-
pear, proclaim ignorance, incompetency
and extravagance. And why do, teachers consent to teach under conditions
which cause ill health, disease and
even death? Do they not know that
bad air causes sickness and that school
rooms which are unprovided with ventilating systems are an abomination?
If they do know, why do they
stand such evil conditions? Have they
Continued on page 9.