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56
During the year the City of London has initiated a reform in the
sanitary circumstances of barbers' shops, and there are signs that this
lead will be followed generally throughout the Metropolis. There is
no doubt, whatever, that a certain amount of communicable disease is
spread by the combs, brushes, sponges, etc., used by barbers. With
the exception of Syphilis which has (though rarely) been communicated
in barbers' shops, the diseases contracted, though very unpleasant, are
not such as affect the health or life of individuals. They include Ringworm
and some other allied conditions, "Barbers'-itch," and a condition
which is responsible for bald patches and which is also due to a parasite.
Many countries have adopted regulations for controlling hairdressers
and barbers, and amongst them are Japan, some parts of the German
Empire, Sweden, the City of New York, and even Uruguay and San
Salvador. The simple precautions in the interest of the customer are
not difficult to practise ; they include the washing of the hands before
attending to a fresh customer, a fresh towel for every new customer, the
head (in shaving) to rest on a clean piece of paper or a fresh towel,
the dipping of razors, etc., into boiling water after each occasion of use,
the replacing of powder-puffs by cotton-wool, etc. (which is to be burnt
after use), the requirement that no one suffering from any infectious
disease of the scalp or face should be served in a public hairdresser's
shop. The use of sponges is prohibited, and the floors must be swept
or mopped every day, and the rooms generally kept in a sanitary
condition. The Borough Council has expressed its willingness to.
co-operate with the Incorporated Guild of Hairdressers in an effort to
obtain the observance of these precautions in the barbers' shops within
the Borough.
FOOD AND DRUGS.
Under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 156 samples of food and
drugs were taken and analysed. The results are shown in Table C.
Seven of the samples were not satisfactory, and, therefore, the percentage
of non-genuine samples amounted to about 4.5 per cent., a
figure which is less than half of that of the preceding year, when it