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This number is an increase of 14,278 or 17.7 per cent. when compared with the number of 1917. The
parents of 117 children were prosecuted and fines varying from 1s. to 10s. with costs, were imposed. Of
the total number of children cleansed 2,793 were conveyed by the Council's motor ambulance from outlying
schools.
The scheme contemplates that at each stage a notice indicating the condition in which the child
is found shall be sent to the local sanitary authority in order that action may be taken with regard
to clothing and bedding in the home, under the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904,
Part IV.
In the annual report for 1914 a table was given showing the action taken in the homes by the
local authorities and it was noted that upwards of 10,000 houses were visited and rooms, or bedding,
or both were disinfected in more than 2,000 cases. Since the outbreak of war, representations were
made by borough medical officers of health that it was impossible to continue to carry out the necessary
home visits in a large number of instances, and the practice of sending out notices in cases in which
the head alone was verminous was discontinued. The number of home visits has steadily declined,
but it is now hoped that the cordial co-operation obtaining between the Council and the borough
councils in 1914 will again be fullv re-established, and even further extended.
Scabies.
Arrangements for bathing children suffering from scabies were continued. The number
of cases dealt with was 9,624, an increase of 2,684 over the number for 1917. As in the previous
year cases have come under notice of infection in a family subsequent to a visit from a soldier
from overseas. All cases in school children have been speedily followed up, and baths were given
throughout the summer holidays. The hospitals and treatment centres closely co-operated with the
Council, and the card referred to in the annual report for 1917 resulted in expediting the arrival of the
children at the cleansing stations and their consequent return to school after the condition had been
cured.
The need
for baths
for
school
children.
Up to the present time the Council has been concerned almost exclusively with cure rather than
prevention, and the general question of cleanliness apart from infestation by lice has not been specifically
dealt with.. The personal habits of the people in relation to cleanliness lie at the roots of national
health and well being, and it is now, more than ever before, becoming recognised that the duties
of the Council in regard to the personal hygiene of the children in the schools and to the inculcation
of the principles of cleanliness generally must be adequately filled. This can only be satisfactorily
accomplished if cleansing is regarded as a part of the curriculum of the schools comprising not only
precept but practice.
It is unfortunately true that adequate provision for maintaining the body in a necessary state
of cleanliness does not exist in the homes of the poorer classes, and it may be assumed that a quarter
of a million school children in London are brought up in ignorance of and without the possibility of
that minimum of attention to hygienic requirements which should now be necessary in every civilised
community.
In the third week of the Easter term an enquiry was carried out by the Divisional Medical Officers
into the condition of cleanliness of school children. Poorer schools were selected from every part of
London, and 954 boys and girls were examined and interrogated as to cleanliness and home bathing
arrangements. 789 children, or 82.8 per cent., claimed to have a satisfactory bath at least once a
week; the remaining 165 (17.2 per cent.) admitted that there were no satisfactory arrangements at
home nor did they use the public provision.
A more careful examination of the question of adequacy of bathing arrangements in the home,
however, revealed that in a large number of cases the above statements made by the children were
unreliable. Of the children examined by Dr. Argles in the S.W. division, 89.5 per cent. claimed to
have a satisfactory weekly bath, but more than 60 per cent. of the children confessed that only with
difficulty was it possible to sit down in the washing tub, and 96 per cent. said that the bath-water
was not changed, but was used by all the members of the family one after another. Dr. Lewis
in the N.E. division, says the usual thing is for the child to be placed in a tin bath in front of the
fire once a week, the whole of the family using the same water, and although they say they " sit
down " in the bath, it is unlikely that the bath is large enough for them to be properly washed. Dr.
Kidner, too, speaking of the S.E. division, says " there can be no doubt that there is a considerable
improvement in cleanliness and also that it is more the rule than the exception for children to have a
bath of some sort in their homes at more or less regular intervals. The bath taken is, however, not
of a thorough nature, and considerable further improvement would follow the use of public baths."
One child out of 200 examined in the East End had a " real" bath at home.
Examination of the condition of the children supported the view that the provision in the home
for the maintenance of cleanliness was inadequate in a greater number than would be gathered from
the replies of the children. Dr. Kidner remarks on the disparity between the subjective replies of
the children and the objective facts revealed by examination of their condition. Quite forty per cent,
of the children seen were not in a satisfactory state of cleanliness, 33.6 per cent. were found with
nits in the hair, and another 3.6 per cent. with live vermin. 30.2 per cent. had unsatisfactory conditions
of bodily cleanliness, in addition to 3.2 per cent, whose bodies were verminous. In 39.9 per
cent, the underclothing was in an unsatisfactory condition ; in 32.4 per cent. there were flea marks
on the underclothing, and in 23 per cent. lice were seen.
The provision of bathing accommodation in connection with the building of public elementary
schools has been advocated. The Board of Education have in their official reports signified their
sympathetic approval of the establishment of such provision, and the Council has had before it reports
of the officers on the subject. Although the special schools of the Council are pretty generally