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occupied two rooms. One of the children was ill with measles—
it was now the fifth day of the disease. All the other children
were placed in the same room with the sick child. "If they are to
have it, they will have it." The children attend four different
schools.
2. Intentional Exposure.-A child 18 months old was
brought by the mother into a house where the children had
measles in order to "catch the disease and have done with it."
3. Improper Nursing.—A child 3 years old with measles and
pneumonia, was found at home left in the sole charge of a girl
barely sixteen. The mother had gone out and it was not known
when she would return.
4. Difficult home circumstances, Neglect.—Family consisting
of a man, wife and five children, occupied two rooms. The
father was out with a piano organ. The mother had gone out to
work and had left l½d. with her daughter, 10 years old, to buy food for
the children until her return, and a farthing's worth of milk for the
baby. The five children were at home alone in one room and being
cared for by the eldest, 10 years old. A child 4 years old was very
ill with measles and being nursed by her sister of 10 years, who also
looked after the baby, 5 months old. The room and stairs were
dirty, the bedding dirty and verminous. The only cooking utensil
was a saucepan; there was no kettle. The case was referred to
the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
5. Forced Convalescence.—In one case the mother asserted
that she had been told by an old lady of 80 years "who surely
ought to know" that "three days was sufficient for any case of
measles." This mother had been in the habit of getting the
children with measles up from bed on the third day and sending
them into the streets.
Public Health Action.—The cases are visited by the Lady
Sanitary Inspector. Suitable advice as to nursing and feeding is
given to the parents and a leaflet of instruction left with them.