MODERN METHODS OF TEACHING HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS .sx Modern methods of teaching hygiene to children are a great improvement upon those formerly in use , Mrs. Leah Manning , M.P. , told her audience when speaking recently at the annual meeting of the Health and Cleanliness Council .sx If habits of cleanliness could be inculcated in children , if they could be made proud of their bodies , both within and without , if they could be made to realise that without a fit and beautiful body it was impossible for them to be of such service to their day and generation as they could be if they kept themselves fit , then the foundations of a happy and successful citizenship would have been laid .sx A crusade for better housing and better facilities for the people of the country could not be better started than by giving the children the possibility of being clean .sx But , under the modern conditions of life , as far as the great majority of children in the elementary schools were concerned , unless they were given a taste for cleanliness and a taste for health inside the schools , they never would , and never could , acquire that taste .sx The Health and Cleanliness Council was doing a tremendous work in collaboration with school teachers and with local education authorities in inculcating habits of cleanliness and health in their scholars .sx Cleanliness was the hardest habit to break , and once people had been helped to enjoy cleanliness they would not go back to uncleanliness .sx Speaking on the same occasion , Dr. G. F. Buchan pointed out that there were two kinds of cleanliness social cleanliness ( soap and water cleanliness ) and surgical cleanliness ( cleanliness free from any kind of germ or infection .sx ) The one led to the other , because it had recently been shown that a clean skin tended to disinfect itself .sx The strongest bulwark that medical officers of health had in the fight against disease was cleanliness , which , in its broadest aspect , included every health precaution that made for bodily well-being .sx There was no one more important than the teachers in the matter of cleanliness campaigns in the schools , since they tried to get the children clean not only for their own sakes , but also for the sake of the school .sx The work done by teachers in that respect was worthy of the highest possible commendation .sx MOTHER AND BABY IN NYASALAND .sx Native mothers in Nyasaland are beginning to be interested in health education , especially in the health of their children .sx Dr. Agnes Fraser , who has had 20 years' experience in Nyasaland , told her audience at a recent meeting that she had achieved a considerable amount of this education by the use of a life-sized celluloid doll called Tobias , who served as a lay figure to illustrate her talks on health and disease .sx Tobias was a most successful patient and never gave any trouble .sx His remarkable recoveries from sunstroke , itch , pneumonia and other disorders were watched with breathless interest by the mothers .sx If Tobias had a relapse , the mothers were allowed to do all that was necessary for him themselves .sx Thus , by seeing things done so realistically before their eyes , they learned what to do for their own children when they were ill .sx MORE MATERNITY BEDS NEEDED .sx When delivering the Chadwick Lecture in London recently , Professor Dame Louise McIlroy , who took as her title " Maternal Mortality , " argued for a greater provision of maternity beds in hospitals .sx She reminded her audience of the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality that hitherto the training of the medical students had been most inadequate .sx In outlining a scheme whereby this training can be made so efficient that the general practitioner will in future have a wide knowledge of obstetrical practice , the Committee emphasised the fact that more maternity beds must be provided .sx Whatever scheme is put forward for the establishment of an efficient national maternity service for the country , its chief aim , Professor McIlroy pointed out , must be that the woman in childbirth must receive the whole attention of the medical attendant , who must not let the other claims of practice interfere .sx The movement to give women the benefit of sedatives and anaesthetics , Professor McIlroy held , is also a controlling factor in the reduction of maternalmortality , as shock is prevented to a great extent and the necessity for operation is diminished .sx This is an important point , for operative interference always raises the incidence of puerperal sepsis a disease which accounts for over one-third of the maternal deaths .sx INEXPENSIVE NURSERY EQUIPMENT .sx Child welfare workers who have visited the Ideal Home Exhibition must have been impressed by the section in which nursery equipment was shown , and especially that exhibit which consisted of a complete set of nursery furniture which had been manufactured at a total cost of 1 1s .sx 9d .sx It is now an axiom of good management that baby should have a separate bed from birth , and that a food safe should be dustproof .sx Expense has been cited as one of the difficulties in the attainment of these desirable ends , but this should no longer hold ground .sx Mr. W. Brown , a chauffeur mechanic , has designed and in his spare time made out of tea chests , machinery packing-cases and banana crates a complete " sitting-room " nursery equipment incorporating several original and ingenious ideas .sx It comprises a cot made out of a banana crate with removable lattice mattress , under which is space for a hot-water bottle or hot brick ; a pedestal to raise the cot away from floor draughts and afford a foot-rest for the mother , a semi-oval table with two drop-leaves and drawers , two substantial wooden chairs , a two-fold screen , a useful cupboard , and a special well-ventilated cupboard and food safe combined , with shelves so constructed as to be dustless .sx An attractive rug made from sugar sacking completes the furnishing of the room .sx The total cost of this " nursery,'' including a pillow ( 1s .sx 6d .sx ) , flowered chintz for the screen ( 6s .sx ) , tea chest and machinery packing-cases , etc. ( 7s .sx ) , hinges , nails , screws and glue ( 3s .sx 6d .sx ) , stain and polish ( 3s .sx 9d .sx ) , was 1 1s .sx 9d .sx It is good to have in this way shown to the public at large the sort of efforts .sx that many individual fathers whose children attend infant welfare centres are making in their own homes , thanks to the teaching received in Fathercraft classes .sx The room forms one of a group entitled " Nurseries for All Purposes " which has been prepared by the Hon .sx Mrs. St. Aubyn , so well known to the readers of MOTHER AND CHILD .sx It shows how , on a limited income of 2 a week , a mother may have a place for her child as efficient , easily run and pleasantly furnished as that owned by women with larger resources and better conditions of life .sx Communal Mothercraft .sx A County Scheme for Maternity and Child Welfare .sx The Public Health Department of the Essex County Council has just agreed upon a comprehensive scheme of maternity and child welfare to cover the whole of its administrative area .sx The object of the scheme is to enable arrangements to be made , as may be sanctioned by the Ministry of Health , for attending to the health of expectant and nursing mothers , and of children up to the age of five years .sx The area covers 33 sanitary districts , of which two are municipal boroughs , 14 rural areas and 17 urban districts .sx The extent of the work to be carried out under the scheme is as follows :sx Notification of Births Acts , 1907 and 1915 .sx The powers under these Acts are vested in the County Council , who desire to maintain a local interest in child welfare work by assisting existing local Child Welfare Committees or by assisting in the establishment of new committees .sx The Council are prepared to make to each approved child welfare centre a grant on the basis of 5 per 1,000 population served , and to supply , when possible , a medical officer and health visitor , provided certain conditions laid down in the scheme are complied with .sx Health Visitors and District Nurse-Midwives .sx The County Council has appointed health visitors throughout thecounty area for the purpose of advising expectant mothers .sx The Council has also by financial grants assisted in the establishment and maintenance of district-nurse-midwives throughout the county .sx Ante-Natal Centres .sx Supervision of the expectant mother is regarded as one of the most important aspects of the scheme , and efforts are being made through the health visitors to ensure that every woman is under medical advice during pregnancy .sx It is hoped to accomplish this by means of consultative ante-natal clinics and by clinics for routine examination .sx The importance of securing the goodwill and co-operation of the medical practitioners and midwives in the area is fully recognised .sx Child Welfare Centres .sx The majority of the County Council child welfare centres are carried on by local voluntary committees who have adopted the conditions laid down by the Council , and thereby receive financial assistance from the County Council towards the maintenance of the centre and the purchase of milk , dental treatment for mothers and children , provision of home helps , etc. The appointment of medical officer of a child welfare centre is usually provided through the County Council , whereby the school medical officer who carries out school work in the district is also medical officer of the child welfare centre .sx This has the .sx great advantage of securing continuity of medical supervision during the pre-school period and afterwards .sx As the cost of a child welfare centre is mainly that of providing the medical officer , it is therefore not usually practicable to establish a child welfare centre where the population within a radius of two miles is less than 2,000 .sx Nevertheless , in some of the smaller areas it is found convenient to get the mothers together , and in many villages the district nurse arranges for the mothers to meet once a month at her house or some other convenient place .sx The babies are weighed and the nurse gives the advice which she is competent to give .sx The County Council has assisted some of these weighing centres in the county by providing a weighing machine .sx ( e ) Provision of Milk .sx The scheme for providing milk to expectant and nursing mothers and infants up to 12 months old is divided into two parts ( i ) districts served by child welfare centres , and ( ii ) districts not so served .sx The first part is administered by the child welfare centres and the second by the health visitors , whose duty it is to collect and forward all recommendations to the County Medical Officer in respect of persons living in a district not served by a centre .sx ( f ) Dental Treatment .sx Provision for dental treatment and dentures is made .sx In those areas where no child welfare centre is established , suitable cases may be brought to the notice of the County Medical Officer by the district child welfare medical officer or health visitor .sx ( g ) Home Helps .sx The County Council make a grant to child welfare centres of a sum not exceeding 5 per annum to-wards the cost of the provision of home helps to such mothers as need their service - the grant to be given only in the case of home helps actually employed .sx This grant , we understand , is in the nature of an experiment , as up to the present the demand for home helps has been comparatively small .sx Travelling Expenses of Mothers Attending Centres .sx The County Council are prepared to assist towards the cost of conveying expectant and nursing mothers living at a distance from the nearest child welfare centre .sx Hospital Treatment is provided for maternity cases , comprising complicatedor difficult cases of confinement , cases where the patient cannot safely be confined in her own home , patients suffering after confinement from puerperal fever or puerperal pyrexia , and pregnant women for whom hospital treatment is necessary .sx Arrangements are also made for babies suffering from ophthalmia neonatorum , or for children suffering from minor ailments such as tonsils and adenoids , or those requiring orthopaedic treatment as recommended by the orthopaedic surgeon for such conditions as rickets , club foot , infantile paralysis , etc. .sx Provision of Obstetric Specialist .sx Arrangements may be made for an obstetric specialist to visit a patient suffering from suspected puerperal pyrexia or puerperal fever if the doctor considers the services of a consultant are necessary .sx