Blankets or sleeping bags will be needed for the rest period in cold weather. The sleeping bag shown on this page can be made of canvas and lined with shoddy blankets at a cost of $4.45. It launders well and lasts indefinitely. One double blanket in addition gives ample protection without too great weight. In open-window rooms the double blanket alone is equally satisfactory.

The care of this equipment requires no small amount of time and thought. St. Louis has devised a good locker in which cots, blankets, Eskimo suits, boots, and gloves can be conveniently stored away by the children themselves. Something of the sort must be provided for use at night and during vacations. Each locker space and every article of personal equipment, from cot to gloves, should bear an identifying mark. Numbers are better than initials, since articles so marked are easily transferable. Ordinary laundry labels marked

DISINFECTION.

All articles of clothing, blankets, and sleeping bags should be laundered or disinfected at the end of the first half year of use, during the summer vacation and always at any change of ownership. Blankets ought to be shaken out and sunned frequently.

1's Feet:

74"

A simple method of disinfecting blankets is to sprinkle a sufficient quantity of formaldehyde over them and put them in an air-tight box for 24 hours. If a large number of blankets are to be disinfected at once, they should be hung on clothes lines in a room which can be sealed and disinfected. The method here given is the one usually employed by by the Chicago Department of Health in disinfection of schoolrooms. Formaldehyde disinfection is most efficient if the temperature is above 60° F. and the atmosphere not too dry. When the air of the room (as in many steam-heated buildings) is very dry, the vent cocks of the radiators may be opened for a few minutes

4. Feet.

33" inside.

3 Feet.

33 Feet

FIG. 36.-Locker devised by St. Louis Open-air.
School for storing cots and Eskimo suits.

to permit the escape of steam into the room, or vessels containing water may be placed in the room.

1. Ingredients for 1,000 cubic feet of air space:

(a) Paraformaldehyde, 30 grams (7) drams).

(b) Potassium permanganate, 75 grams (18) drams).

(c) Water (hot, if possible), 90 cubic centimeters (3 ounces).

2. Procedure:1

(a) Make the rooms to be disinfected approximately air-tight by sealing with gummed paper all doors, windows, chimney flues, etc.

(b) Freely expose all articles in the rooms; place clothes, etc., across backs of chairs, or hang them on a clothesline; open books and place them on end; open all drawers and closet doors.

(c) Secure enough vessels or dishes, one for every 1,000 cubic feet of air space to be disinfected, put about 1 inch of water in each, and place the mixture pans in them.

(d) Place in each mixing pan the contents of one carton of potassium permanganate (75 grams).

(e) Measure, in the aluminum cup, 90 cubic centimeters of hot water for each outfit, pour over permanganate crystals, and let them dissolve.

1 The local health department can usually be called upon for this service.

2. Procedure Continued.

(f) When all the pans used for the space to be disinfected have been prepared, pour into each the contents of a carton of paraformaldehyde (30 grams). In doing this be careful to add the first charge of paraformaldehyde to the pan furthest from the exit left open, and then in succession to the others in the order of distance from the exit. Before adding paraformaldehyde remove all your surplus material and equipment from the room.

FIG. 37.-Thermometer rack for use in schools where temperatures are taken.

BURR SCHOOL CHICAGO,

1-16-15

3. Length of time necessary for efficient disinfection, four hours.

4. Always advise a thorough scrubbing and ventilating of the room after dis

infection.

(Chicago (Ill.) Field Employee's Handbook.

Bureau of Medical Inspection, pp. 61–63.)

BATHS, SCALES, AND OTHER EQUIPMENT.

In schools where daily shower baths are given, each child must have a rubber cap and two Turkish bath towels. Paper towels are better for all other purposes. Soap may be provided in the liquid form more conveniently than in individual cakes. Toothbrushes, combs, hairbrushes, nail files, and other small toilet articles help to impress the lessons of personal hygiene which the open-air school aims to inculcate. The individual thermometers needed in schools

FIG. 38.--Cloak rooms adjoining open-air class rooms have
been fitted up for kitchens by the Chicago Board of
Education.

where temperatures are taken may be conveniently kept in a recep-. tacle similar to that illustrated in figure 37. The top of the thermometer is thrust into a cork which fits the test tube, and the mercury end is suspended above a pad of absorbent cotton soaked in formaldehyde.

In the interests of accuracy, the school scale with measuring rod should stand in the bathroom so that the children may be weighed, and their measurements taken without the variable factor of cloth

ing. A weighing slip of unbleached muslin protects against unnecessary exposure of the person.

FURNITURE.

A list of the furniture needed for kitchen and diningroom for 25 children follows: