A STANDARD FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF A TEMPERANCE EDUCATION LAW 1. Minimum of time.-The pursuit of the study of physiological temperance by all pupils in all schools," as the law demands, requires at least three lessons per week for fourteen weeks of each school year below the second year of the high school. After an adequate and well-graded portion of the topic assigned for this time is thoroughly learned, the subject may then be dropped for the remainder of that year. The following year a little more advanced treatment of the subject should be pursued for the same length of time. Allowing twenty minutes to a lesson for all grades or classes above the primary, this requirement would amount to only fourteen hours per year; but if carried through the several years between the primary and the second year of the high school or corresponding class of ungraded schools, would give suffi cient time for a thorough comprehension of the subject without encroaching upon other 2. Necessary means for the fulfillment of the law.-Well-graded text-books on physiology and hygiene that contain also the "special" facts concerning the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and other narcotics, that the law requires taught. These facts can not be treated in less than one-quarter of the space given to the physiology and hygiene appropriate for primary and intermediate grades, or in less than twenty pages of the ordinary high-school book. These books should be as well graded to the capacities of pupils as modern school readers are. studies. 3. Necessary method. Text-books in the hands of pupils who use text-books in studying such other branches as arithmetic or geography, and oral instruction, not less than three times per week, for those not sufficiently advanced to use text-books. 4. Examinations or tests. As thorough examinations or tests should be required in this study as in other branches, the same marking system should be used, and such marks should enter into the general average which decides the rank of the pupil. The above standard of requirement for the enforcement of a temperance education law is both fair and just. Anything less would not represent the spirit and letter of this legislation, and would not be a pursuit of the subject "as a regular branch" by "all pupils in all schools," as the laws of many States demand. (Signed) Three lessons per week for fourteen weeks is specified, instead of one lesson per week for forty weeks, or two lessons per week for twenty-one weeks, because when the lessons come farther apart the pupils forget the last before they reach the next; the subject as a whole does not become so readily a part of the intelligence; more time has to be taken in reviewing the last lesson before taking up the new; the pupil's interest is not so well sustained, nor proficiency so easily acquired, as when the lessons are given in closer succession. Without well-authenticated text-books in the hands of pupils, error is as liable to be taught as truth, for teachers have rarely received even a brief course of instruction in the subject, and their knowleege of the same is therefore made up of as much folklore as fact. Much time is also liable to be wasted over matters that are entirely irrelevant, such as the legal or political phases of the temperance question, whenever the text-book is not followed. Teachers will be more thorough in teaching a subject in which the pupils, and hence their faithfulness in teaching it, are put to a test. The pupils will also study a subject more faithfully when they know that their standing or promotion depends upon their ability to pass an examination in it. The following, relating to the requirements of institute instructors and the duties of school boards, is taken from Mrs. Hunt's work, "A Brief History of the First Decade," before referred to: INSTITUTE INSTRUCTORS. There is now great need of trained institute instructors on this topic. Great harm has been done this cause, and the study has been brought into disrepute, by persons going before institutes and attempting to give instruction when they were not qualified to do so, and were not prepared to answer the questions propounded by critics, friendly or otherwise. An institute instructor on this topic should have the following qualifications: 1. He, or she, should be a good physiologist. 2. Should be thoroughly familiar with the biological side of the question as revealed by the researches of the last few years. Should be well read in the works of Pasteur, De Barry, Troussart, Shurtzenberger and others on fermentation. 3. Should know enough of modern investigation to be able to refute, on the testimony of scientific experts, the popular fallacies concerning the nature of alcohol, especially as found in the most common drinks, beer, wine, cider, etc. 4. Should be familiar with the great physiological authorities on the subject of the effect of these narcotics upon the human system, mental, moral, and physical. 5. Should be familiar with all the school literature on this subject and be able to point out quickly where one book is defective and where and why another is sound. 6. Should understand thoroughly the matter of grading the topic, i. e., what should be taught the first year and what enlargement of the subject should be added each succeeding year, through all the grades, in order that "all the pupils in all schools" may be taught the subject as the law demands without unnecessary repetition. 7. Should be familiar with. modern methods of teaching as based upon psychological principles, so as to be able to present this subject in harmony with the same. 8. Should have also what is called "platform powers," i. e., ability to present this subject with clearness, enthusiasm, and the magnetism which holds an audience. The subject of physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics, is a large one requiring exact knowledge on the part of anyone who would attempt to instruct teachers. For those who can fully meet these requirements there is a wide opening, and correspondence with such is invited by the national superintendent of this department, Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, Hyde Park, Mass. A bureau for the training of such instructors on this topic for teachers' institutes is already under way. Applicants for the course of training will be required to present testimonials as to previous education, capacity for study, aptness to teach, and power to interest an audience. The instructors now preparing for this work have had experience as institute instructors on other topics, and have established a reputation in that direction. THE SCHOOL BOARD. The parties who ought to take the first official steps in the enforcement of a temperance education law are ordinarily the local school boards. These steps, if rightly taken, are: (1) The adoption of a definite course of study, with time and place given to it as to other branches, and for each grade of pupils. (2) The recommendation of text-books containing the facts the law requires taught, graded to the capacities of the several classes of scholars. In the discharge of these duties on the part of the school boards, there is wide room for improvement. They have too often recommended books notably lacking in temperance matter, and so absolutely out of grade as to be practically useless. Conscientious teachers in such cases have tried to give oral instruction, but they have not had the previous drill in this branch that they have had in others. When neither the teacher nor the books are in possession of the facts to be taught, it is not strange that the teacher soon runs out of matter for the so-called oral instruction. Oral instruction on this topic, in all grades above primary, has been, and still is, a signal failure. We must insist upon text-book study in all grades using text-books for other like branches, if we would not be mocked with disappointment in results. A master in a city school, under temperance education law, recently said: "I can and will teach this branch when it is put into my course of study and books containing the subject are put into my hands and those of my pupils, but the school board must do that first. If they fill my course of study absolutely full with other branches, leaving no time for this, and in addition, neglect to give me or my pupils any adequate text-books, I can not do much." This statement represents the relation of school boards to the enforcement of these laws, and reveals the greatest hindrance to be overcome. The neglect with these officials is often due to misapprehension or indifference, and sometimes to positive opposition. The appeal in the latter case is to the people for the election of persons who will execute the law. The man who would withhold this instruction from the children of a city or modify its full truth for fear of injuring the brewing or other liquor interests is most unfit to be intrusted with any care of the education of the children in this age. Misapprehension on the part of school boards can be enlightened; that should be the work of the local superintendent. The indifferent can ordinarily be aroused; if not, they should be retired. Hard indeed must be the heart of the man or woman who could deliberately withhold the utmost warning science has against strong drink and other narcotics from the children under his or her care. If we deliberately or otherwise withhold a given information from a child are we not responsible for what may follow to that child's future and to others through him because of such withholding? Is it too much to say that the officials who carelessly, negligently, or purposely fail to provide for the full enforcement of the temperance education laws in the schools under their control, are incurring a fearful and personal responsibility for the drunkenness of the future? The time has come for calling attention to this from pulpit, platform, and press. II.—THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE HUMAN SYSTEM AND THE METHOD OF TEACHING THEM. BY PROF. A. C. BOYDEN, OF Bridgewater, MASS. [From proceedings National Educational Association, 1886.] ** Two very practical questions remain for us as teachers. The two are these: What shall we teach? and How shall we teach it? That is, what shall we select from all the mass of material that has been prepared upon this subject for the young pupil? Much is especially adapted to them. Much we can give them with assurance. Many of the facts can be presented correctly, simply, and effectively to the children. And when we have made our selection, the important question comes, how shall we present the subject according to the best methods of teaching and in such a way as to lead to conviction on the part of the young. Let me say, what I am going to repeat great many times throughout this discourse, that it is not mere knowledge that we are to teach-it is conviction that we are to bring to the minds and the wills of these pupils. Stopping with mere knowledge will not accomplish the work. What shall we teach? First. A knowledge of the human body: Its external parts; the relations of those parts to each other: the uses of these parts, and especially the proper care of them; a knowledge of these delicate organs, the senses that we have and the work which they do for us, and the care which we should take of them; the work done by the important systems within our bodies, the way in which they do that work, and the care which they should receive from us--not merely a knowledge that we have certain parts, that we use them in certain ways, and that they can be taken care of in certain ways, but we should lead the mind to a profound conviction of the marvelous construction of our body, the delicate arrangement of its parts and the duty of each one of us to take the very best care of these houses of our souls. Not the mere knowledge, we repeat, but the conviction of the duty to care for these. This work is the preparation for the later work. Second. A knowledge of the origin, properties, and uses of the various stimulants and narcotics; that the children may recognize them when they see them; that they may know the properties, and the effects upon the human body, and that they may know why alcohol has this certain influence upon the human body. Third, and most important: That these narcotics, especially alcohol, tobacco, and opium, upon the human body; what they do and why they do it. Now, with your indulgence, I shall hope to offer a few suggestions in answer to these two questions, what shall we teach and how shall we teach it, with some very simple experiments. I have gone to the extreme of simplicity in order to avoid the objections which come from so many teachers who say: "I have had no practice in any laboratory. I am situated in a school where very few, if any, appliances are given to me." I wish to present that which can be used by every man and woman in every schoolhouse in this land; requiring no previous laboratory work, requiring no great outlay or expense. Of course in those schools which are more favorably situated, more advanced experiments may be conducted; but I intend to present those experiments which will give a sufficient knowledge of the effects on the human body, so that if it is taught rightly the children will be saved. Now, in this work, so far as I can show it before such a large audience, I will leave the subject of general physiology, and come directly to the subject of narcotics, their origin, their properties, and uses, and what they do to the human body; and I have selected for their principal work, ALCOHOL. I.-ORIGIN OF ALCOHOL. 1.-In fermented liquors. Experiment 1. Add molasses to water in a bottle till it is of a deep brown color, then add a teaspoonful of yeast; allow it to stand in a warm place for a day or two. Observation: The mixture has the odor of alcohol, later a sour, acid odor; the mixture has a sharp taste. Inference: The little yeast has changed the sugar of the molasses to alcohol; this will change to acid if left alone. Call the yeast plant a "ferment," and the process of changing "fermentation." Experiment 2. Allow apple juice to stand exposed to the air for a few days. Observation: The liquid has the odor of alcohol, also the biting taste. Later it has a sour, acid taste like, vinegar. Inference: Very small ferments from the air have changed the sugar of the apple juice to alcohol. Call the liquid "cider." The alcohol will change to vinegar if left exposed to the air. Cider is formed by the fermentation of apple juice in the air. Wines are formed by the fermentation of grape juice, etc., in the air. Ales and beers are formed by the fermentation of the sugar of grains. (Malt liquors.) Alcohol is an essential constituent of all these fermented liquors; nature will change it to an acid if left to itself. 2.-In distilled liquors. Experiment 3. Heat cider or wine in a test tube over an alcohol lamp; rass the steam through a glass tube into a bottle which is wrapped in a wet cloth to condense this steam. Observation: The odor and taste are more marked than in the fermented liquors; often there is a bitter taste. Inference: The condensed liquor is stronger than the fermented liquor and is changed into new substances oftentimes. Call this process of evaporating and condensing "distillation," and the resulting liquid à “distilled liquor." Brandy is distilled from wines. Gin is distilled from beer and flavored with juniper berries. II. PROPERTIES AND USES OF ALCOHOL. Experiment 4. Examine alcohol for its color, odor, and taste. Place a little on the hand. Observation: Alcohol is a transparent liquid, has a strong odor, and a biting taste. Inference: The rapid evaporation of the alcohol makes the hand feel cool-it is a volatile liquid. Experiment 5. Place a little in a spoon; apply a lighted match. Observation: It burns in a blue; hot flame. Inference: Alcohol is inflammable because it unites easily with the oxygen of the air. Experiment 6. Shake a little powdered resin in alcohol. Observation: The alcohol changed to the color of the resin; finally the resin disappears. Inference: Some resinous substances are soluble in alcohol. Experiment 7. Mix a little oil of turpentine with alcohol; shake. Observation: The turpentine mixes with the alcohol. Inference: Alcohol will mix with some oils. Experiment 8. Add alcohol to the white of an egg (albumen). Observation: The albumen changes the moist, mucilaginous albumen to a white, stringy solid. Call this "coagulation." Inference: Alcohol coagulates albuminous substances by extracting the water from them. Properties.-Alcohol is a transparent liquid, odorous, has biting taste, is volatile. It dissolves many resinous substances, and mixes with most oils. It is inflammable, has great affinity for oxygen. It coagulates albumen, has attraction for water. Uses (resulting from these properties), external application to allay inflammation. Alcoholic lamps for heating purposes. A solvent for gums in preparing varnishes. In preparation of perfumery, medicines, etc. Preservation of museum specimens. III.-EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE HUMAN BODY. 1.-Alcohol impairs digestion. Experiment 9. Place with the finger a little alcohol on the inside membrane of the mouth (a mucous membrane); repeat this several times. Observation: The membrane stings, the saliva flows freely, finally there is a dry, puckery feeling. Inference: Alcohol inflames the membrane, excites the flow of the liquid which it secretes, and absorbs the moisture in it. Application.-The lining membrane of the mouth also lines the stomach and the other organs of the digestive system. A small amount of alcohol will cause a profuse flow of the gastric juice and pass very rapidly into the blood. A larger amount inflames and irritates the lining membrane of the stomach. A continued use weakens the quality of the gastric juice by the unusual and irregular flow, also impoverishes the blood from which it comes. It irritates the constantly inflamed membrane of the stomach, leading to an ulcerous condition and chronic inflammation. Experiment 10. Add alcohol to raw meat, also rub some meat in water till it is well colored with blood, add alcohol to this blood. Observation: The liquid is full of white particles and the meat seems hard. Inference: The alcohol has coagulated the albumen of the meat and blood. Experiment 11. Add alcohol to some of the pepsin of the gastric juice. Observation: The pepsin contains white, stringy particles. Inference: Alcohol coagulates pepsin. NOTE.-To prepare the pepsin get from the butcher the inside membrane of a pig's stomach, cut into fine pieces and soak it in glycerine for a few hours. The glycerine dissolves the pepsin; strain through a fine cloth. Prepared pepsin can be bought of the druggist. Application.-Pepsin is the active solvent of the gastric juice. Alcohol tends to harden the food and coagulate the pepsin, thus retarding digestion. Continued use tends to chronic indigestion and to the intensifying of any disease of the digestive system. 2.-Alcohol absorbs the water of the body. Refer to experiments 8 and 9. Alcohol not only absorbs water from the albumen which it coagulates, but the whole system floods it with water to dilute it and render it less harmful. Hence alcohol absorbs the water of the saliva, of the gastric juice, of the blood, of the tissues, and of all the secretions. This soon results in a craving for fluid to supply the body, really a "thirst" for water, requiring time for its absorption throughout the system, but temporarily satisfied by more exciting drink. 3.-Alcohol destroys the blood corpuscles. Experiment 12. Prick with a pin under the finger nail and draw a drop of blood; place this on a bit of glass and examine with a magnifying glass. Observe the way in which the little blood corpuscles are arranged. Touch them with the smallest amount of alcohol. Observation: The corpuscles are of an 'I would never do that or teach others to.-M. H. Hunt. |