in view of the other work which has to be done. It is necessary for the superintendent to fix an amount of time which may be required for each special subject, and then he should hold his principals responsible for insisting that the program be carried out, otherwise these special subjects may well be termed fads.

I have found it wise in my experience to have frequent consultations with the supervisors, and from time to time we meet and arrange a program of visitation so that we know each day where every supervisor is, and we are thus able to avoid a congestion of supervisors in a given building at any one time. This plan prevents too great disturbance of the regular school program.

It may be urged that this makes the work too formal to be valuable, but unless some such system is provided, friction is produced, and it is the chief business of the superintendent to keep the educational wheels oiled so thoroughly that the squeaking is not heard by either the Board of Education or the community.

COOPERATION.

It has been suggested that it is the function of the superintendent to examine and promote pupils, but how utterly impossible in a city with from 5000 to 10,000 or more children, for the superintendent to do this personally. It must all be done through the teacher and principal working in conjunction.

It has also been suggested that the course of study should be made by the superintendent. In every city system we have men and women who are specialists in certain subjects, and I believe that committees should be appointed from the principals and assistants to prepare courses in these subjects, and to keep them revised, up to date, and to correlate them with the other subjects of the course. This will do away with the common evil of each teacher knowing simply the work of her own grade. It will create a general interest in

the course of study as a whole, and it will lead the teachers to feel a larger responsibility in the matter because they have had a part in its preparation.

Of course, the selection of textbooks rests finally with the superintendent, but textbooks should never be selected except through the Board of Principals after consultation with their teachers. If superintendents pursue this method of selecting text books, the matter of interference from the Board will never arise.

Teachers should be instructed to judge books not purely from a literary standpoint, but from a mechanical standpoint. You will find that after a little, teachers are just as observing in the matter of print, binding, quality of paper, illustrations, etc., as they are of the content of the subject matter, and it is well that they should become familiar with these phases, even though they had no voice in the matter of selection.

In closing, I quote from the last report of the President of our Board of Education.

"The work of the Board of Education is done in Committees. Each Committee has a time for meeting when all the work before it is thoroughly gone over. The management is organized under the following heads: Committee on Finance, which has the supervision over all the fiscal matters of the Board; Committee on Buildings, which has the charge and supervision over all the buildings and real estate under the control of the Board of Education; Committee on Supplies, which has the charge of all supplies for the use of the schools; Committee on Teachers, which has charge of the employment of teachers and janitors in the public schools. As matters under these various departments arise each month, they are taken up by the proper committee, who report at the next regular meeting. Thus the work of the Board is systematized and conducted in a businesslike manner."

I may add that I have found the com

ious. The work has previously been done in committees. Each committee tends strictly to its own business, no one infringing upon the rights of another. Through this plan, the custom of teachers, principals and patrons interviewing this member of the Board or another about some

matter which is unsatisfactory is practically done away with and a vast deal of friction is thus avoided.

The larger degree of cooperation we can. secure on the part of all concerned, the greater harmony prevails in the school system and the larger the measure of efficiency. It is conceded that the financial affairs are entirely in the hands of the Board of Education, but it is just as im

he must be a leader; and he must be willing to assume the responsibility which leadership brings; he must expect opposition, for opposition is inevitable; he must meet it calmly and firmly. He must expect to be misunderstood, but he must learn to bide his time; he must expect to be called a faddist because to the conservative laymen, anything new is a fad; he must expect to be called a theorist, but he must make every effort to demonstrate the fact that he is a practical man; he must expect to be accused of being partial, but he must in the settlement of every vexed question satisfy his own conscience, and it follows as the day the night, he cannot then be false to any man.

RECENT writers

on education have emphasized the fact that the process of education is largely one of adjustment-an adjustment on the part of the child to the physical environment on the one hand and an adjustment to the spiritual possessions of the race on the other. The further fact that the best education includes the adjustment of the physical and spiritual environment to the needs of the child has not been given the attention it deserves. For the most part environment is considered a fixed mold and the child the plastic clay that must be fitted to the mold. That such a view is not consonant with the facts is evident to anyone who gives the subject a moment's thought. The nurse who clothes the newborn babe begins the process of changing the natural environment to an artificial one absolutely essential to the needs of the child. Clothes, houses, cooked food, conveyances, etc., are results of our efforts to improve the natural conditions of life. The difference between the civilized man and the savage is that the one is the master, the other, the subject of his environment. The one molds the things he finds about him to suit his convenience, the other allows his life to be shaped by the things with which he comes in contact.

The important features of the physical environment are light, heat, air, food, drink, clothes, buildings, manufactured articles, sound, climate, home conditions, scenery and living things. These things are common to all, and to a great extent may be modified at will by the individual. One may live in light. or in darkness, he may breathe pure air or foul air, he may

eat plain food or delicacies, he may drink water or wine, he may wear good clothes or poor ones, he may live in a hut or in a palace. His selection of his physical environment determines his physical life and to a considerable degree his mental and moral life as well. The young babe is very sensitive to physical conditions. Its life, health and disposition depend almost entirely on proper light, temperature, air, food, drink and clothes. Properly cared for and nourished it grows into a healthy, happy child and finally develops into a strong man or woman.

The hygienic value of the physical environment is now well understood but the mental and moral value is still to be investigated. In thinking of the health of the child we too often forget the impressions that are being made upon its little mind. mind. Fortunately, in many cases the health of body and the health of spirit are linked together so that in caring for the one we foster the other. It is possible, however, for the child to grow up a healthy animal with very little mental or moral development. Education for character demands a symmetrical growth of all the powers and faculties of the child. Certain forms of physical environment favor such growth and other forms retard it. The following analyses of some of the phases of physical environment is for the purpose of determining the best conditions for the upbuilding of character.

LIGHT AND DARKNESS.

The effect of light on living things is very marked. It is a well known fact that the leaves of plants will acquire their green

color only in the presence of light and that in the absence of light the assimilation of carbon dioxide and formation of starch in plants cannot take place. Light also has a stimulating or irritating effect on plants which causes them to adjust their leaves and stems so that the exposure to the rays may be either lessened or diminished. Sunlight has a powerful effect on lower organisms. A few minutes exposure to bright sunlight will suffice to destroy most bacteria.

The physiological effect of sunlight on animals and man, while not so great as on plants, is still of considerable importance. The most noticeable effect is the color of the skin. Exposure to sun in summer causes the development of pigment in the skin and long continued existence in hot countries, as in the case of the African race, has resulted in making a permanent change of color. Absence of sunlight as endured by those who live north of the arctic circle and those who work in mines or dwell in caves causes the skin to have a blanched unhealthy appearance.

In addition to the effect on the complexion, light acts as a stimulant to the skin, causing it to perform its natural functions more readily. As a therapeutic agent light has been used with success in case of some skin diseases. Prof. Finsen has established a hospital in Copenhagen for the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin by condensed light, and his methods have been introduced to some extent in this country. It is claimed that the treatment is remarkably successful.

Aside from the direct cures wrought by light it has been found that light is an essential factor in the treatment of diseases. With few exceptions, diseases are best treated in light rooms. Patients are more cheerful and more hopeful in a bright room and consequently the mind aids the body in resisting the disease. The fact is now so well recognized that all new hospitals are constructed with the view of obtaining as much light as possible.

The

The psychological influence of light is even greater than the physiological. In general, light is favorable to mental processes while darkness is unfavorable. sense of sight, which is by far the most efficient of the senses in informing the mind, is active only in the light. The movements of the body are necessarily fewer, slower and more cautious in darkness than in light; the opportunity for the senses other than sight to act is lessened; the circulation of the blood is slower and the mind rests. If artificial light cannot be procured sleep naturally comes with darkness. The mind is thus almost wholly dependent on the light for its development.

Blind people usually develop the sense of harmony and the sense of touch so as to compensate partially for the lack of the sense of sight, but as a rule the blind are not well developed mentally unless they have been specially trained by a person

who can see.

We are children of the Sun to fully as great a degree as the ancient Persian believed. His rising in the east is the signal for us to begin the day's labor and his setting in the west is the signal for us to desist from toil. When he rises in majesty we are filled with hope and courage; when he rides triumphant in the heavens we seem to share his triumph; when the clouds cover his face a frown covers ours and as the clouds pass away a smile dispels the frown; when he paints the heavens in glorious tints at the close of day we gaze in rapture and are filled with ecstatic delight. Who has not felt the depressing influence of a dark, gloomy day or felt his spirits bound within him as the clouds rolled away and the sun lit up the world?

As the light produces such a decided. effect upon the intellect and feeling, it cannot fail to affect the will and the moral attitude. It is not convenience and concealment merely that cause men to choose darkness for their evil deeds. Light helps men to resist evil while darkness has no

such power. In the glare of day evil stands forth in all its horror while under the dark veil of night only the dim outlines are seen. A home in which little or no light enters is almost certain to ruin both body and soul of the child living therein. The police records of our cities show that a arge percentage of crime comes from the dark, filthy tenements. The lack of light is only one of the elements which cause crime in such places but it is certainly an important one. Under normal conditions the more light in living rooms, the better it is for all who occupy them. In the clear light we see things as they are, and the mind is receiving a continued suggestion of true relations. Naturally, reactions will also express true relations. G. Stanley Hall and Theodate L. Smith who made an investigation of the reactions to light and darkness found that dull days had a deteriorating effect on school children. Teachers were almost unanimous in reporting that on such days children were dull, irritable, low spirited and harder to manage than on bright days. In summing up the conclusion of the investigation the authors use these words: "Reactions to light are in the direction of life, health, activity and moral growth; those of darkness in the direction of mental and bodily inactivity and, unduly prolonged, show indications of tendencies toward moral deterioration."

In view of these facts it is clear that the child should live in the light except during the time of sleep. There should be no dark or gloomy rooms in the home or the school and direct sunlight should be welcomed for a portion of each day.

HEAT.

The temperature of the human body in health is uniformly about 984° F. A rise in temperature indicates a fever and a fall a lessening of the bodily functions. If the temperature rises to 107° F. or sinks to 95° F. death is almost certain to ensue. The healthy body when properly protected can

live for several hours in an atmosphere having a temperature as high as 125° F. or possibly 130° F. and as low as -40° F. or -50° F. When at rest the temperature of the atmosphere most agreeable to the body is 68° F. or 70° F.; when exercising vigorously, 50° F. to 60 °F. The most favorable temperature is indicated by the person feeling neither hot nor cold. When the temperature of the surrounding air is unfavorable the nerves takes cognizance of the fact and the skin and circulatory system immediately react so as to overcome the unfavorable condition. When the temperature of the surrounding air is high, the skin and its blood vessels expand, the pores of the skin open and profuse perspiration takes place, the perspired fluid is rapidly evaporated and the body is kept cool. When the temperature is low, the skin and its blood vessels contract and the heat radiated by the body is lessened, the resisting power of the blood is much weakened. Special protection must be given the body when it is to be subjected to extremes of temperature for any considerable time, otherwise the skin will be injured and disastrous results will follow. As the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere has such an important influence on the body, it must affect the mind also. mind also. If the nervous system is disturbed, the action of the mind is hindered. Naturally, then, the surrounding temperature most favorable for the bodily functions is likewise most favorable for the mind. When the body is subjected to an excess of heat the nervous system is irritated, the mind is confused and loses the power of concentration, the higher powers seem to give way to the lower, anger is easily aroused and the mind becomes excited over trifles, self-control for the time is lost and there is little incentive to action. When the body is subjected to a very cold temperature nearly the whole energy of the system is used in the production of heat and consequently there is