Civics and Health

William H. Allen

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Civics and Health, by William H. AllenThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: Civics and HealthAuthor: William H. AllenContributor: William T. SedgwickRelease Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21353]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIVICS AND HEALTH ***Produced by Jeannie Howse, Juliet Sutherland and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.netTranscriber's Note:Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.Some text in this document has been moved to avoid multi-page tables beinginserted mid-paragraph.Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. For a completelist, please see the end of this document.Click on the images to see a larger version.Louis AgassizLOUIS AGASSIZ"A natural law is as sacred as a moral principle"CIVICS AND HEALTHBYWILLIAM H. ALLENSECRETARY, BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCHFORMER SECRETARY OF THE NEW YORK COMMITTEE ON PHYSICAL WELFARE OFSCHOOL CHILDREN, AUTHOR OF "EFFICIENT DEMOCRACY" AND "RURALSANITARY ADMINISTRATION IN PENNSYLVANIA," JOINT AUTHOROF "SCHOOL REPORTS AND SCHOOL EFFICIENCY"WITH AN INTRODUCTIONBYWILLIAM T. SEDGWICKPROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY IN THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYGINN AND ...

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• Publié par: mevung
• Publié le: 01 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Civics and Health, by
William H. Allen
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg
License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Civics and Health
Author: William H. Allen
Contributor: William T. Sedgwick
Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21353]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
CIVICS AND HEALTH ***
Produced by Jeannie Howse, Juliet Sutherland and the
Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.netDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has
been preserved.
Some text in this document has been moved to avoid
multi-page tables being inserted mid-paragraph.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in
this text. For a complete list, please see the end of
this document.
Click on the images to see a larger version.
Louis AgassizLOUIS AGASSIZ
"A natural law is as sacred as a moral principle"
CIVICS AND HEALTH
BY
WILLIAM H. ALLEN
Secretary, Bureau of Municipal Research
Former Secretary of the New York Committee on
Physical Welfare of
School Children, Author of "Efficient Democracy"
and "Rural
Sanitary Administration in Pennsylvania," Joint
Author
of "School Reports and School Efficiency"WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
WILLIAM T. SEDGWICK
Professor of Biology in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON
Entered at Stationers' Hall
Copyright, 1909
By WILLIAM H. ALLENALL 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 idea into
practice is a weakness still more common. It is this
frequent failure of reformers to reduce their theories to
practice, their tendency to dwell in the cloudland of the
ideal rather than to test it in action, that has oftenmade them distrusted and unpopular.
With our forefathers the phrase mens sana in corpore
sano was a high favorite. It was constantly quoted with
approval by writers on hygiene and sanitation, and
used as the text or the finale of hundreds of popular
lectures. And yet we shall seek in vain for any
evidence of its practical usefulness. Its words are
good and true, but passive and actionless, not of that
dynamic type where words are "words indeed, but
words that draw armed men behind them."
Our age is of another temper. It yearns for reality. It
no longer rests satisfied with mere ideas, or words, or
phrases. The modern Ulysses would drink life to the
dregs. The present age is dissatisfied with the vague
assurance that the Lord will provide, and, rightly or
wrongly, is beginning to expect the state to provide.
And while this desire for reality has its drawbacks, it
has also its advantages. Our age doubts absolutely
the virtues of blind submission and resignation, and
cries out instead for prevention and amelioration.
Disease is no longer regarded, as Cruden regarded it,
as the penalty and the consequence of sin. Nature
herself is now perceived to be capable of imperfect
work. Time was when the human eye was referred to
as a perfect apparatus, but the number of young
children wearing spectacles renders that idea
untenable to-day.
Meanwhile the multiplication of state asylums and
municipal hospitals, and special schools for deaf or
blind children and for cripples, speaks eloquently and
irresistibly of an intimate connection between civicsand health. There is a physical basis of citizenship, as
there is a physical basis of life and of health; and any
one who will take the trouble to read even the Table of
Contents of this book will see that for Dr. Allen
prevention is a text and the making of sound citizens a
sermon. Given the sound body, we have nowadays
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 sound body
generally includes the sound mind, and vice versa. If
mental dullness be due to imperfect ears, the remedy
lies in medical treatment of those organs,—not in
education of the brain. If lack of initiative or energy
proceeds from defective aëration of the blood due to
adenoids blocking the air tides in the windpipe, then
the remedy lies not in better teaching but in a simple
surgical operation.
Shakespeare, in his wildwood play, saw sermons in
stones and books in the running brooks. We moderns
find a drama in the fateful lives of ordinary mortals,
sermons in their physical salvation from some of the
ills that flesh is heir to, and books—like this of Dr.
Allen's—in striving to teach mankind how 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 present wilderness; but he is more than a
prophet, for he is always intensely practical, insisting,
as he does, on getting things done, and done soon,
and done right.No one can read this volume, or even its chapter-
headings, without surprise and rejoicing: surprise, that
the physical basis of effective citizenship has hitherto
been so utterly neglected in America; rejoicing, that so
much in the way of the prevention of incapacity and
unhappiness can be so easily done, and is actually
beginning to be done.
The gratitude of every lover of his country and his kind
is due to the author for his interesting and vivid
presentation of the outlines of a subject fundamental
to the health, the happiness, and the well-being of the
people, and hence of the first importance to every
American community, every American citizen.
WILLIAM T. SEDGWICK
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CONTENTS
PART I. HEALTH RIGHTS
CH P
AP A

TE G
R E
I. Health a Civic Obligation 3
Seven Health Motives and Seven Catchwo 1
II.
rds 1
What Health Rights are not enforced in yo 2
III.
ur Community? 3
The Best Index to Community Health is th 3
IV.
e Physical Welfare of School Children 3
PART II. READING THE INDEX TO HEALTH RI
GHTS
4
V. Mouth Breathing
5
Catching Diseases, Colds, Diseased Glan 5
VI.
ds 7
VII 7
Eye Strain
. 2
VII 8
Ear Trouble, Malnutrition, Deformities
I. 3
8
IX. Dental Sanitation
9
1
X. Abnormally Bright Children 0
4
1
XI. Nervousness of Teacher and Pupil 0
7
1
XII Health Value of "Unbossed" Play and Phys
1
. ical Training
5
1
XII