PREVENTION OF SCARLET 1 



mps, c( above all, diphtheria 



and syphilis, may thus become a certain source 

 a for the companion who gets the con- 

 taminated pencil on the i. n. 1 

 tin : this practice constitutes a real 

 and t.-rril.lr. though perhaps unsuspected, danger, 

 the higher class of schools the finer drawing 

 pencils may be the only ones not appropriated 

 to iinliviihml children ; hut, in the main, I think 

 is accurate to say that pens and pencils are 

 f a common box ; they are re-collected 

 he close of the school-hours, not washed or 

 ted, and put away from air, light, and 

 particularly sunsl. iiich is the best germ 

 des; a dark cupboard. We could not 

 devise a better method of preserving infective 

 germs in their fullest vigour and vital r 



day (September 15, 1909), whil. 

 going over a school in South London, I found 

 one box full of lead pencils and another of slate 

 pencils for general distribution and use, while the 

 boys were writing with pens already given out 

 The tooth-gnawing spoken of was in nbund. 



ience. In many cases more than half of the 

 wood of the lead pencils and pens had been 

 In another box with an air-tight 

 lil 1 was .juito surprised to find a collection of 

 small pieces of india-rubber or ink eraser for rub- 

 ing out marks. These, too, like the former, were 



