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cluding Dr. king Brown, Dr. Cairney and Mr. Grantley Smith.
The total attendances at these lectures has amounted to just over
6,000, showing an average of about 120 persons at each lecture.
In most cases the meetings have been specially arranged for either
children or adults in order to avoid the difficulty of having to
speak to an audience varying greatly in age and understanding.
Boys clubs and girls' clubs are included in this figure and have
provided some of our most interested audiences. In one case we
were kindly given permission to address the whole of the staff
of a large leather factory, and we owe our thanks to the directors
for their welcome and for the excellent arrangements made for
our accommodation. This is a branch of the work which enables
us to reach the men of the Borough under the auspices of their
employers, and it is to be hoped that other firms will give us
similar facilities when approached.
We desire to acknowledge the help given by the Education
Officer of the London County Council. We have been accorded
the use of the " School Organisation " by the London County
Council and have been granted permission to go into schools under
certain conditions and lecture to school children. Ten such lectures
have been given during the year, and our reception by headmasters
and headmistresses has always been cordial. In a number
of cases prizes were offered for the best essay on the subject
dealt with by the speaker. About 200 essays have been received
and judged by the Medical Officer of Health, some of them showing
great talent.
Outdoor lectures.—This part of the work has undoubtedly
been most interesting and encouraging While open-air speaking
is not exactly new in the Borough, it certainly is a novel duty for
a public health official. When the work was begun various
criticisms were made, such as, for instance, that the work was
infra dig. and that it was " too much like a ' showman's job."
No doubt the showman element is present, but this is inherent
in the work and is only noticeable to those who are opposed to
public education by any other than the recognised stilted methods.
Education of the public in Hygiene must always have more in
common with advertising than with " education " as ordinarily
understood. It is, in fact, instruction and not education at all.