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HYGIENE FOR TEACHERS.
HYGIENE FOR TEACHERS.-MEDITERRANEAN FEVER.
1719
R.A.M.C., Staff-Surgeon E. A. Shaw, R.N., and Dr. T. Zammit, Government analyst on the island. Colonel D. Bruce, R A.M.C., chairman of the subcommittee appointed by the tropical diseases committee of the Royal Society, bacillus coli communis is not killed in a 5 per cent. solution and Dr. R. W. Johnstone, lent by the Local Government in one hour and it requires ten minutes for a 25 per cent. Board for epidemiological work, joined in the investigasolution to kill the same organism and 30 minutes in the case tion which has already resulted in the publication of of staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. Spores of bacillus two valuable reports, one having appeared a few months subtilis are not killed in a 100 per cent. solution in 30 days ago. In the annual report on Malta just issued reference is
proportions varying from 1 in 500 to 1 in activity depending to a certain extent upon Chloride of zinc the quantity of nutriment present. cannot be relied upon to destroy micro-organic life, as the growths 200,
in
its
and the spores of bacillus anthracis are not killed in a 50 per cent. solution in 40 days. Since the antiseptic and germicidal properties of zinc chloride are feeble its chief value rests with its deodorant properties. But its high cost, together with its caustic and toxic properties, practically eliminate it from the list of useful and trustworthy disinfectants. ____
HYGIENE
FOR TEACHERS.
THE lot of the Government elementary teacher is not He is alternately the spoiled darling and the oppressed victim of " My Lords and also the counter with which political " educationistsplay their game. Apart from these functions he is vested with responsibilities which in many cases he is, owing to no fault of his own, quite unfitted to undertake, and among these is the early recognition of disease in children. The late School Board for London had a simple rule, which was this : " If a child is fit to be out of bed it is fit to attend school " ; and in pursuance of this creed children with chorea, morbus cordis, who were overworked and " did sums in their sleep," or even children who were rot five years old were considered tit for school. The authorities are becoming wiser now and teachers are presumed to be able to recognise when a child is sickening for some febrile disease or is suffering from defective sight or defective hearing. Manchester being a practical, hard-headed place has, through the medical officer to the education committee, issued a little hand-book of "Notes on Hygiene for Teachers." In these notes simple instructions are given as to the importance of ventilation and as to how to recognise or at least to suspect the presence of the chief infectious diseases. Useful notes are also given upon hearing and vision and upon the lighting and heating of class-rooms. A teacher who masters the contents of this pamphlet should be able with a fair amount of certainty to exclude any child whose presence may be a source of danger to others and Dr. A. Brown Ritchie, the medical officer, deserves great credit for the plain and simple way in which he has set out his directions. A card, apparently for testing the size of type used in school books, accompanies the pamphlet. In the middle of it is cut a hole of one square centimetre with On the card are two sides marked off into millimetres. printed the following directions :-
made to the wor of the commission and it is stated that further important discoveries have been made giving ground for hopes that the investigation " will result in the discovery of some method of satisfactorily combating a disease which has such disastrous effects upon the health of the navy, the army, and the civil community." The importance of the matter to Great Britain’s chief possession in the Mediterranean is apparent from a glance at the statistics afforded by the Lieutenant-Governor from which the following summary of infectious diseases is taken :-
happy.
When the lower edge of the square is placed immediately above one line of print a satisfactory type should be so large that only two lines of print can be seen in the centimetre square -if more than two are seen the type is too small.
But this test takes no account of the "leading" of the printed matter. We are glad to see that Dr. Ritchie says in the section on the defects of vision that "pica is the smallest type which should be used in schoolrooms, and for infants that is too small."
or Mediterranean fever was, during the past 12 months, responsible for more than a third of the total number of cases of infectious disease reported. At the same time it is pointed out that the law which provides that every physician or surgeon shall notify any case of infectious disease coming under his notice is honoured rather in the breach than in the observance, so that the above figures must be taken as approximate only. "When," adds the LieutenantGovernor, "the law on the subject is amended it is proposed to adopt the English system of paying a fee for each case reported." It is interesting to note that no less than 556 cases of Mediterranean fever, or 50’09 per cent. of the total. occurred in the months of July, August, September, and October, 1904, an average of 134 for each of those months as against an average of 69’ 25 for the remaining eight months. The part played by temperature in the incidence of the disease is suggested by the fact that in July, August, and September, when the mean temperature was highest, there was a corresponding rise in the number of
That is to say, remittent
cases.
Henry Morris’s work at the Royal College of Surge ’cs England has been, and is, of great value to the medical profession, while his devotion to the Middlesex Hospital has been amply proved by his recent generous donation to the Mr.
of
,
funds for the school of that institution. We understand that Mr. Morris is not in any way retiring from the practice of his profession because he is resigning his position upon the active staff of his hospital. This proceeding is apt too to be construed as professional retirement. Mr. Morris has resigned his post because he is unable to give up !-o much time as hitherto to hospital duties and will thus afford an earlier chance of promotion to-ome of his junior
colleagues. MEDITERRANEAN
FEVER.
IT will be recollected that on the initiation of the Colonial Secretary nearly two years ago steps were taken to investigate that scourge of Malta, Mediterranean fever. The Royal Society undertook the responsibility of the inquiry, the expenses being defrayed by the Government, and appointed as a commission Major W. H. Horrocks,
-
A SPECIAL general meeting of the Obstetrical Society of London was held at 20, Hanover-square, W., on Dec. 4th, to consider the report of the executive committee of the Union of Medical Societies and the modifications and amendments thereto recommended by the council of the Obstetrical Society. The report of the executive committee, together with the modifications and amendments,
1719
R.A.M.C., Staff-Surgeon E. A. Shaw, R.N., and Dr. T. Zammit, Government analyst on the island. Colonel D. Bruce, R A.M.C., chairman of the subcommittee appointed by the tropical diseases committee of the Royal Society, bacillus coli communis is not killed in a 5 per cent. solution and Dr. R. W. Johnstone, lent by the Local Government in one hour and it requires ten minutes for a 25 per cent. Board for epidemiological work, joined in the investigasolution to kill the same organism and 30 minutes in the case tion which has already resulted in the publication of of staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. Spores of bacillus two valuable reports, one having appeared a few months subtilis are not killed in a 100 per cent. solution in 30 days ago. In the annual report on Malta just issued reference is
proportions varying from 1 in 500 to 1 in activity depending to a certain extent upon Chloride of zinc the quantity of nutriment present. cannot be relied upon to destroy micro-organic life, as the growths 200,
in
its
and the spores of bacillus anthracis are not killed in a 50 per cent. solution in 40 days. Since the antiseptic and germicidal properties of zinc chloride are feeble its chief value rests with its deodorant properties. But its high cost, together with its caustic and toxic properties, practically eliminate it from the list of useful and trustworthy disinfectants. ____
HYGIENE
FOR TEACHERS.
THE lot of the Government elementary teacher is not He is alternately the spoiled darling and the oppressed victim of " My Lords and also the counter with which political " educationistsplay their game. Apart from these functions he is vested with responsibilities which in many cases he is, owing to no fault of his own, quite unfitted to undertake, and among these is the early recognition of disease in children. The late School Board for London had a simple rule, which was this : " If a child is fit to be out of bed it is fit to attend school " ; and in pursuance of this creed children with chorea, morbus cordis, who were overworked and " did sums in their sleep," or even children who were rot five years old were considered tit for school. The authorities are becoming wiser now and teachers are presumed to be able to recognise when a child is sickening for some febrile disease or is suffering from defective sight or defective hearing. Manchester being a practical, hard-headed place has, through the medical officer to the education committee, issued a little hand-book of "Notes on Hygiene for Teachers." In these notes simple instructions are given as to the importance of ventilation and as to how to recognise or at least to suspect the presence of the chief infectious diseases. Useful notes are also given upon hearing and vision and upon the lighting and heating of class-rooms. A teacher who masters the contents of this pamphlet should be able with a fair amount of certainty to exclude any child whose presence may be a source of danger to others and Dr. A. Brown Ritchie, the medical officer, deserves great credit for the plain and simple way in which he has set out his directions. A card, apparently for testing the size of type used in school books, accompanies the pamphlet. In the middle of it is cut a hole of one square centimetre with On the card are two sides marked off into millimetres. printed the following directions :-
made to the wor of the commission and it is stated that further important discoveries have been made giving ground for hopes that the investigation " will result in the discovery of some method of satisfactorily combating a disease which has such disastrous effects upon the health of the navy, the army, and the civil community." The importance of the matter to Great Britain’s chief possession in the Mediterranean is apparent from a glance at the statistics afforded by the Lieutenant-Governor from which the following summary of infectious diseases is taken :-
happy.
When the lower edge of the square is placed immediately above one line of print a satisfactory type should be so large that only two lines of print can be seen in the centimetre square -if more than two are seen the type is too small.
But this test takes no account of the "leading" of the printed matter. We are glad to see that Dr. Ritchie says in the section on the defects of vision that "pica is the smallest type which should be used in schoolrooms, and for infants that is too small."
or Mediterranean fever was, during the past 12 months, responsible for more than a third of the total number of cases of infectious disease reported. At the same time it is pointed out that the law which provides that every physician or surgeon shall notify any case of infectious disease coming under his notice is honoured rather in the breach than in the observance, so that the above figures must be taken as approximate only. "When," adds the LieutenantGovernor, "the law on the subject is amended it is proposed to adopt the English system of paying a fee for each case reported." It is interesting to note that no less than 556 cases of Mediterranean fever, or 50’09 per cent. of the total. occurred in the months of July, August, September, and October, 1904, an average of 134 for each of those months as against an average of 69’ 25 for the remaining eight months. The part played by temperature in the incidence of the disease is suggested by the fact that in July, August, and September, when the mean temperature was highest, there was a corresponding rise in the number of
That is to say, remittent
cases.
Henry Morris’s work at the Royal College of Surge ’cs England has been, and is, of great value to the medical profession, while his devotion to the Middlesex Hospital has been amply proved by his recent generous donation to the Mr.
of
,
funds for the school of that institution. We understand that Mr. Morris is not in any way retiring from the practice of his profession because he is resigning his position upon the active staff of his hospital. This proceeding is apt too to be construed as professional retirement. Mr. Morris has resigned his post because he is unable to give up !-o much time as hitherto to hospital duties and will thus afford an earlier chance of promotion to-ome of his junior
colleagues. MEDITERRANEAN
FEVER.
IT will be recollected that on the initiation of the Colonial Secretary nearly two years ago steps were taken to investigate that scourge of Malta, Mediterranean fever. The Royal Society undertook the responsibility of the inquiry, the expenses being defrayed by the Government, and appointed as a commission Major W. H. Horrocks,
-
A SPECIAL general meeting of the Obstetrical Society of London was held at 20, Hanover-square, W., on Dec. 4th, to consider the report of the executive committee of the Union of Medical Societies and the modifications and amendments thereto recommended by the council of the Obstetrical Society. The report of the executive committee, together with the modifications and amendments,