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184
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
conditions are very unsatisfactory one of the two cleansing schemes is applied, but the slight cases
are invariably cleaned up as a result of the rota inspections; hence the apparent disparity in the
numbers found verminous. Of the two schemes, one deals with children suffering only from verminous
heads and the other with the child "who or whose clothing is in a verminous or foul or filthy condition."
In the former the procedure is as follows.
Elementary
schools—
verminous
heads
The school nurse examines all the children at the school and notes the condition of their
heads, using strict precautions against contagion. The head teacher is then supplied with a white
card for each child whose head requires cleansing. The card, which draws attention to the condition
and contains directions for cleansing, is enclosed in a sealed envelope and taken home by the child.
In the case of those children whose condition is not sufficiently bad to be called unclean, but is nevertheless
not quite satisfactory, yellow cards are issued. At the end of the first week all cases not
treated are separated from the other children and a red card with full details is filled up by the
nurse for each child still unclean. This is forwarded to the divisional superintendent, who has the
card delivered at the home by the attendance officer. At the end of the second week, the assistant
superintendent of school nurses visits the school and examines the children proposed for exclusion.
After exclusion the divisional superintendent takes out a summons ; but any child properly cleansed
before the hearing of the case is re-admitted to school, examined by the nurse, and the summons is
not pressed, the circumstances being: explained to the magistrate.

The parents of 247 children were prosecuted, and fines varying from 2s. to 12s. 6d., with costs,
were imposed. The percentages in the specially selected schools in which the head scheme has been
applied of children verminous amongst children examined was 14.1 in 1913, as compared with 15.8
in 1912, a decrease of 1.7, This scheme was not applied throughout the county as since the enactment
of the Children Act, 1908, some magistrates were reluctant to convict under the attendance
by-laws and preferred that cases of verminous children should be dealt with under Section 122 of the
Children Act. The scheme was therefore modified in districts where the difficulty existed, so that
instead of a child being excluded from school, the preliminary notice under the verminous persons
and clothing scheme (see below) was issued. This modification has since been extended to all districts
served bv a cleansing: station.
Elementary
schools—
Verminous
persons and
clothing.
The procedure for giving effect to Section 122 of the Children Act, 1908, afforded
opportunities at each stage for parents voluntarily to send their children to a station for cleansing. To
each child found verminous was handed in a sealed envelope a card addressed to the parent drawing
attention to the condition and to the facilities for bathing. If advantage were taken of the facilities,
each child was if necessary given three baths, and in the event of a relapse into a verminous state
the procedure was repeated. If, however, the child was not sent for voluntary cleansing or was not
adequately treated at home, a statutory notice under the Act was served. Again opportunities for
gratuitous cleansing were offered, and if accepted a series of three baths was given to each child.
If the verminous condition complained of remained unremedied, compulsory cleansing ensued, when
in order completely to cleanse the head the hair infected with nits was snipped off. Relapse after
voluntary cleansing was followed by the re-issue of the statutory notice, but relapse after compulsory
cleansing resulted in police court proceedings.
It was found that as the procedure became known parents availed themselves of the facilities
for voluntary baths, but the child was not kept clean, and after various cleansings it became necessary
for the child to resume attendance at the station. In order to avoid this the scheme was
amended so that, instead of an unlimited number of voluntary baths, only two series of three baths
at each stage was permitted. The practice of keeping the medical officers of health of the several
boroughs informed concerning the various stages reached in the case of each child cleansed under the
scheme was further extended during the year. Generally, a large amount of work is now boing
performed by borough councils in securing the cleanliness of the home, with beneficial results, not
only to the individual but to the community. In cases of repeated relapse into uncleanliness it must
be the home conditions that are in fault, and no personal cleansing scheme can be regarded as
complete that takes no account of this factor in the problem.