tacle of children
whose vertebral column is being deformed by using desks, just as in
the Middle Ages the instep was deformed by the torture of the boot.
And on what grounds is this odious torture judged to be necessary?

Because a man has substituted himself for God, desiring to form the
minds of children in his own image and likeness; and this cannot be
done without subjecting a free creature to torture. This is the only
reason.

We will now quote the remedies by means of which a so-called science
proposes to counteract spinal curvature in school-children. It has
determined the exact position in which a child may remain seated and
at work for a long period of time without injury to the vertebrae.

"The child, seated at the table, should have his feet planted
flat upon the ground, or upon a foot-rest. The legs should be
at right-angles to the thighs, as should the thighs be to the
trunk, save for a slight inclination of the bench itself. The
trunk should be in such a position that there will be no
lateral inclination of the vertebral column, the arms should
be parallel with the sides of the body, the thorax should not
be interfered with by the front edge of the table, the pelvic
basin should be symmetrically supported, the head slightly
bent forward at a distance of thirty centimeters from the
level of the table; the axis of the eyes, remaining parallel
with the front edge of the table, should be horizontal; the
forearms, two-thirds of which should be laid on the table,
should rest on it, but without leaning upon it."

To realize all these conditions, it is necessary that the desk should
be _exactly fitted_ to the proportions of the child; its constituent
parts should agree with those of the body and limbs of the scholar.

The following are the measurements which Dufessel considered
indispensable in the fashioning of a desk suitable for children:

1. Height.

2. The length of the leg, taken from below the knee, when the child is
seated with the legs at right-angles to the thighs, and the feet flat
on the ground. This measurement gives the required height of the seat
from the foot-rest.

3. The diameter of the body from front to back, taken from the
sternum; this, with five centimeters added to it, gives the proper
distance from the reading-desk to the back of the seat.

4. The length of the femur, two-thirds of which represent the depth of
the seat.