tS4 practice and TEACHIN'G of HYGIEXE IX SCHOOLS. 



trades, when none at j^resent exist, although such matters are of 

 very considerable importance to the health of large European 

 ■centres of population, is at present unimportant here. 



On the other hand, it is always necessary to illustrate and explain 

 the advantages of a wholesome drinking water, personal bodily 

 •cleanliness, and to illustrate the necessity of baths, toothbrushes, 

 iresh air, wholesome and properly-cooked food, exercise, rest, and 

 suitable clothing, etc. 



The elder girls (and boys, too) should be taught those few and 

 simple rules which bear upon the provision of suitable food and the 

 care of infants, together with the reasons for the avoidance of 

 impure milk, patent and proprietary foods and medicines, facts 

 Oi the very greatest importance, as they may become the means 

 of saving the loss of lives of many of the future generations. The 

 ignorance prevailing at the present time, and its consequences, 

 as illustrated in the large infantile mortality' of so many countries, 

 is often based upon the dangerous advice of old women, who know 

 intuitively all about these matters because they have buried large 

 families, is simply appalling, and at least might be combatted by 

 better hygienic education. 



Teachers of hygiene should of necessity have a sound although 

 an elementary knowledge of human physiology' and anatomy, as 

 such are essentials to the useful comprehension of the exact bearing 

 •of sanitary scientific principles. 



But here it must be clearl}- understood that I do not consider 

 •even this knowledge necessary in the actual practice of teaching 

 the laws of health to children, for it is hardly advisable in at least 

 those sensitive and self-conscious children we sometimes meet 

 with to direct their attention too carefully to these matters lest 

 -such a knowledge produce ideas which in future might lead them 

 to become valetudinarians. Such information is, however, as 

 essential to the teacher of hygiene, as the knowledge of the working 

 parts and movements of a watch is to a watchmaker, and I very 

 much doubt whether such matters as deal with ventilation, its 

 relation to disease, exercise, the testing and recognition of clefi- 

 ■ciencies of the special senses of sight and hearing could really be 

 made comprehensible to a teacher unless he already had some 

 general idea of the anatomical construction and phvsiological 

 action of the lungs, heart, brain, eyes and ears. 



Doubtlessl}^ allied scientific knowledge of the general and elemen- 

 tary principles of chemistry, physics and even parasitiology are of 

 the greatest service towards the understanding of sanitary science, 

 and the cause of infectious diseases in both man and the lower 

 animals, together with the rationale of disinfection, and the means 

 employed for the prevention and spread of disease. This is taught 

 to our teachers. 



The importance of a sufficiency of food, clothing, exercise, and 

 sleep to a growing child, together with the early recognition and 

 necessity for treatment of defective eyesight, hearing, and imperfect 

 mental reactions, are obviously essential to both the educationist 

 and the child, for, apart from the waste of money and harm done to 

 -a scholar so afflicted, it must always be borne in mind that a child 



