The offices, private and general, are placed at the back of this entrance hall, and command a view of the reception and dispatch of all work and of the entrance or departure of visitors or workpeople. A general sight is also obtained from here over the working departments (with the exception of the private wash-house).
The building generally is lofty and well ventilated; and we were pleased to note that the proprietors, in addition to having well considered the arrangement of workrooms, have provided a spacious dining and recreation room, fitted with cookery range and every convenience for the use of the workpeople. This is on the first floor, over the entrance hall.
Public Institution Laundries.—Most of the large public institutions, such as hospitals, workhouses, infirmaries, and asylums throughout the country, are fitted with Bradford’s “Vowel” washing machines, and for hospital purposes the washing compartments are made of metal, and can be used for special cases where desirable.
One of the first important washing plants constructed by Messrs. Bradford was fixed in the London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London, in 1867, and it is still working in this institution.
Architects and others interested in steam laundry apparatus will do well to consult Messrs. Bradford & Co. when arranging their plans.
[THE SCHOOLROOM.]
The Room.—Provided that the room fulfil all the ordinary conditions of sanitation, the foremost question then for decision is the lighting of the room. As remarked by Dr. Power, the amount of light, both day and artificial, supplied in schools is a matter of great importance, for the feebler the light the closer is the object instinctively brought to the observer to be recognised, and amongst the various suggestions of a practical nature that have been made is one by Hoffmann, of Wiesbaden, that in every schoolroom a set of Snellen’s test types should be suspended, and as soon as they are no longer legible by the healthy at a normal distance the school should close. In school buildings the windows should, if possible, look to the south or east, a much greater amount of light entering with equal window space from those directions, especially in the earlier hours of the day, than from the north, whilst type of a given size is read at a much greater distance with south than with north light. Cohn and Javal alike think that it is almost impossible to get too much light in a schoolroom, the latter maintaining that there should be sufficient light in the darkest part of the room to read easily and well even on dark days. The size of the window must manifestly exert a great influence upon the amount of light admitted, and Cohn has laid down the rule that there should be at least 1 sq. ft. of window pane for every 5 sq. ft. of flooring, and in some recent Parisian models there is actually 1 ft. of window to each foot of flooring. The height of the window from the floor is of importance, since a room is always dark with high windows, owing to the obliquity of the entering rays and the loss by reflection; the sill of the window should not be lower than 1 ft. from the ground. The light should enter from the left hand, since it enables the letter that has just been formed in writing to be distinctly seen; whereas, if the light enter from the right, the last written letters are in the dark. The total area being the same, 3 windows are better than 2, for since the illumination obtained from a given light diminishes as the square of the distance, more light will be obtained in the remoter parts of the room with 3 than with 2 lights.
Desks and Benches.—The form of the desks and school furniture is a point that has been almost entirely neglected in England. The slope of the table is of importance. If a book be placed vertically in front of us, we can see well, and no inclination of the head is required. If it be placed at such an inclination as to form an angle of 45° with the horizon, we can still, by turning the eyes down, read well without inclining the head; but if the book is placed horizontally, the head is naturally bent downwards to relieve the exertion of turning the eyes strongly downwards, and this tends to congest the vessels of the head. Hence the desk should be inclined, and not flat; but an angle of 45° would be too much, the books, &c., would slide off. A rise of 2 in. for each 12 in. of table breadth is sufficient. Fahrner considers that the first movement of the child in leaving the normal position consists in inclining his head forward and to the left, and that this apparently unimportant movement is the root of the whole evil; for it in the first place causes the centre of gravity of the head to fall in front of the vertebral column. The muscles of the neck are consequently called into play; they soon, however, become fatigued, and transfer the work to the muscles of the back, and thus at the expiration of a few minutes the head sinks upon the left arm, and the eyes are brought into very close proximity with the paper. All physicians are now agreed that the desk should be a little higher than the elbows when hanging naturally, and that the size of the child should be taken into consideration.