View report page

87
upon, not forgetting the necessity for teaching the teachers of
schools the simple laws of health and domestic hygiene. Lady
Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors were spoken highly of
in the Conference of Ladies interested in Hygiene, amongst whom
your appointed delegates, with one or two other males, ventured,
but from amongst whom your delegates quickly departed, on hearing
two ladies discuss somewhat vehemently the short-comings of
the text-books on "Domestic Hygiene," including cooking(written,
of course, by males), and on being told by another lady that boys
might, with advantage, be trained to household duties (scrubbing,
etc.), their work in that respect being better than that of girls.
Your delegates thought it best to beat a hasty retreat.
The degeneracy of town populations points to the necessity of
physical education for the rising generations, whilst it was suggested
that children under five years of age should be altogether
excluded from schools, which are a source of danger to the health
of such young children, e.g., through infectious diseases, overworking
or forcing of the brain, and general aggregation in
classes. The proper sanitation and planning of schools were insisted
upon, as also special classes for children who are unfortunately
defective in mind or body.
(f). Health Exhibition.
In our opinion, the Health Exhibition of apparatuses and appliances
relating to health, was the most useful part of the Con.
gress, and we consequently spent several hours in going over all
the newest appliances and inventions. Simplification and automatic
action appear to be the aims of all practical workers in
connection with new appliances. This was especially noticeable
in the case of the many different alternating gears for filters in
connection with water and sewage, etc.
We noted that silver medals had been awarded to (1) Messrs.
Defries & Co. for their Equifex Disinfecting (Saturated Steam)
Machines, two of which the Borough Council of Lambeth
now possess; and (2) the Horsfall Destructor Company, for their
different Destructor plants now established throughout the.
country, including the newest direct tipping Destructor (with improvements
suggested by the Lambeth Medical Officer) recently
built for the Westminster City Council, and fixed in Commercial
Road, Lambeth.
It is impossible to mention all the various exhibits (disinfectants,
sanitary fittings, etc.), but we were much struck with an
appliance shewn by the Kitchen Bath Fitment Company, by
which a hot bath can be readily supplied to every working-man,
t 2