BARBERS' BRUSHES AND CONTAGION
1
613 same time, he adds, the lodging accommodation available for the poor is both unsatisfactory and without efficient control. By-laws were made in 1882 to deal with common lodging-houses. At that date there were twenty-five such houses and only three were found to be adapted to their purposes. Even where control is exercised it seems to have been held that so small a cubic capacity as 250 feet per occupant was sufficient, and a recom- mendation to increase it to 300 cubic feet has been disregarded. So also as to the sanitary condition of com- mon lodging-houses, it appears that the local by-laws have not been complied with. Dealing next with Torrens’ Acts, Cross’s Acts, and the Labouring Classes Lodging-houses Acts, 1851 to 1885, Mr. Vacher reminds the Town Council that they have taken no steps whatever under either of these statutes. Once again Mr. Vacher advises as to the action which should be taken, and he gives a list of no less than 829 houses which are condemned as insanitary. Of tfiese, 475 are back-to-back houses, and 354 are " obstruc- tive houses." He also again adverts to the common lodging-houses, and states that only five can be regarded as " fairly clean," the remainder being classed as "nithy" " or " dirty " in varying degrees. It is not difficult to under- stand, after perusal of this report, why Birkenhead is one of the remaining typhus towns of England ; neither is it difficult to see that a very serious responsibility attaches to the Town Council in the matter of the attitude they have so far adopted towards the question of the housing of the working-classes in the area within their sanitary juris- diction. ___ THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. THE 117th anniversary dinner was held at the Holborn Restaurant on Saturday evening last, the 8th inst., when the unusually large number of 123 Fellows and guests attended. The chair was filled by the retiring President, Dr. Theodore Williams. Amongst the speakers to the toasts may be mentioned the President, the President-elect ’{Mr. Knowsley Thornton), Sir Andrew Clark, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, Director General Dick, Mr. Timothy Holmes, Mr. Christopher Heath, Mr. Thomas Bryant, Sir William Mac Cormac, Sir Joseph Fayrer, Dr. Douglas Powell, Mr. Brudenell Carter, the Rev. Brooke Lambert, Mr. Edmund Owen, and the Honorary Secretaries, Dr. Charles Beevor and Mr. Ballance. Sir Joseph Lister was unfortunately prevented by illness from being present. The health of the retiring President was given by the President of the Royal College of Physicians in very happy and eloquent terms, and those present were delighted during the evening by songs from Dr. Roberts, Mr. Anderson Critchett, and Dr. Habershon, who were accompanied on the piano by the late .Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, Dr. Felix Semon. The past session appears to have been remarkably success- ful both in the number of Fellows attending the meetings and in the interest and importance of the subjects discussed. A PENALTY FOR OVERLAYING. DEATH from overlaying has contributed so largely to the ’sum of infant mortality that hardly any suggested remedy - can fail to receive due consideration. According to recent reports, there is a prospect of legislative action in the matter, and the German law, which makes it penal for a parent or nurse to share the same bed with a child under two years of age, has been quoted as a model for the proposed measure. The purpose of such Acts cannot be too highly praised. We may regret their necessity, but we can hardly deny its existence. They are, mevertheless, in some ways quite novel as portions of the English code. Thus it is a new thing, though not without precedent, that the operation of a statute should be limited to the domestic circle. It should further be noticed that the suggested rule would serve not only for the repression of cruelty or wilful neglect, but even for the prevention of accident, or of what we may call unconscious negligence. The cases to which it would apply represent all shades of responsibility, from that of actual intention down to almost unavoidable mishap. The subject is therefore one which requires somewhat careful treatment, the more so that legislative interference must be justified by actual necessity. Now, there can be no doubt that the safety of the child is only assured by the constant use of a separate crib. At the same time it must be allowed that, when taken to bed by a reasonably careful parent, the risk which it incurs is by no means a great one. Such a household regulation as the pro- hibition above mentioned would be exceedingly difficult to carry out in practice, though obviously effective in theory. The balance between purpose and performance would pro- bably be better maintained by a measure which would regard every case of overlaying as implying, ipso facto, culpable neglect, if no graver offence, and would inflict a suitable penalty. We should thus apply a powerful preventive, and at the same time avoid interference with home life by a legislative order which might prove at once irritating and ineffectual. ___ BARBERS’ BRUSHES AND CONTAGION. THE frequency with which the contagion of parasitic sycosis has been traced to its source in a barber’s shop is almost characteristic of the disease. In our issue dated Feb. 15th attention has once more been directed to this point in a note on four cases, all of which appear to have owed their origin to the attentions of one particular operator. The writer, probably with justice, attributes the transference of the infective germs in these cases to the use of unclean brushes and a common soap supply. He suggests that the former evil should be obviated by immersing the brush after each time of use in boiling water. As regards the soap, a safeguard already exists in the practice, now common among hairdressers, of using for each client a separate portion of soap- cream, thus avoiding all danger of intermixture. The sugges- tion respecting the brush is well worthy the attention of barbers, and we might add a further injunction that the water be not only boiling, but fortified in its cleansing property by some simple antiseptic. It is taken for granted that the razor being both easily and regularly cleaned is rarely, if ever, a medium of infection. The uncomfortable owner of a sycosis eruption will grant his emphatic assent to the ancient saying which lauds prevention more than cure. Since, moreover, as stated in the paper to which we have already alluded, an occasional razor cut may occasion the transference of more serious diseases by the mixture of blood with soapsuds, every cleanly precaution becomes the more imperative. - CURIOUS SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT THE DROWNED. READERS of Mark Twain’s works will have been amused by the accounts given of the methods-such as firing a cannon over the water-employed for bringing a drowned body to the surface. Similar superstitions and practices would appear to still survive in our own country. In Cambridgeshire the body of a man is supposed to have been in the water for over a week, but has not been found, although some of the villagers have paraded up and down the bank of the river, beating a drum vigorously, in the expectation that this would cause the body to float. In a similar case, where a man was drowned in the neighbouring county of Huntingdon, the body had remained embedded in the mud of the river Nene for over a month. A loaf of bread containing quicksilver had again and
-
Upload
truongphuc -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
1
Transcript of BARBERS' BRUSHES AND CONTAGION
613
same time, he adds, the lodging accommodation availablefor the poor is both unsatisfactory and without efficientcontrol. By-laws were made in 1882 to deal withcommon lodging-houses. At that date there were
twenty-five such houses and only three were found to beadapted to their purposes. Even where control is exercisedit seems to have been held that so small a cubic capacityas 250 feet per occupant was sufficient, and a recom-
mendation to increase it to 300 cubic feet has been
disregarded. So also as to the sanitary condition of com-mon lodging-houses, it appears that the local by-laws havenot been complied with. Dealing next with Torrens’ Acts,Cross’s Acts, and the Labouring Classes Lodging-housesActs, 1851 to 1885, Mr. Vacher reminds the Town Councilthat they have taken no steps whatever under either ofthese statutes. Once again Mr. Vacher advises as to theaction which should be taken, and he gives a list of no lessthan 829 houses which are condemned as insanitary. Of
tfiese, 475 are back-to-back houses, and 354 are " obstruc-tive houses." He also again adverts to the common
lodging-houses, and states that only five can be regardedas " fairly clean," the remainder being classed as "nithy"
"
or " dirty " in varying degrees. It is not difficult to under-
stand, after perusal of this report, why Birkenhead is oneof the remaining typhus towns of England ; neither is itdifficult to see that a very serious responsibility attaches tothe Town Council in the matter of the attitude they haveso far adopted towards the question of the housing of theworking-classes in the area within their sanitary juris-diction.
___
THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
THE 117th anniversary dinner was held at the HolbornRestaurant on Saturday evening last, the 8th inst., whenthe unusually large number of 123 Fellows and guestsattended. The chair was filled by the retiring President,Dr. Theodore Williams. Amongst the speakers to thetoasts may be mentioned the President, the President-elect’{Mr. Knowsley Thornton), Sir Andrew Clark, Mr. JonathanHutchinson, Director General Dick, Mr. Timothy Holmes,Mr. Christopher Heath, Mr. Thomas Bryant, Sir WilliamMac Cormac, Sir Joseph Fayrer, Dr. Douglas Powell, Mr.Brudenell Carter, the Rev. Brooke Lambert, Mr. EdmundOwen, and the Honorary Secretaries, Dr. Charles Beevorand Mr. Ballance. Sir Joseph Lister was unfortunatelyprevented by illness from being present. The health of the
retiring President was given by the President of the RoyalCollege of Physicians in very happy and eloquent terms,and those present were delighted during the evening bysongs from Dr. Roberts, Mr. Anderson Critchett, and Dr.Habershon, who were accompanied on the piano by the late.Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, Dr. Felix Semon.The past session appears to have been remarkably success-ful both in the number of Fellows attending the meetingsand in the interest and importance of the subjects discussed.
A PENALTY FOR OVERLAYING.
DEATH from overlaying has contributed so largely to the’sum of infant mortality that hardly any suggested remedy- can fail to receive due consideration. According to recentreports, there is a prospect of legislative action in the
matter, and the German law, which makes it penalfor a parent or nurse to share the same bed witha child under two years of age, has been quoted as
a model for the proposed measure. The purpose of suchActs cannot be too highly praised. We may regret theirnecessity, but we can hardly deny its existence. They are,mevertheless, in some ways quite novel as portions of theEnglish code. Thus it is a new thing, though not withoutprecedent, that the operation of a statute should be limited
to the domestic circle. It should further be noticed thatthe suggested rule would serve not only for the repressionof cruelty or wilful neglect, but even for the prevention ofaccident, or of what we may call unconscious negligence.The cases to which it would apply represent all shades of
responsibility, from that of actual intention down to almostunavoidable mishap. The subject is therefore one whichrequires somewhat careful treatment, the more so that
legislative interference must be justified by actual necessity.Now, there can be no doubt that the safety of the child isonly assured by the constant use of a separate crib. At thesame time it must be allowed that, when taken to bed by areasonably careful parent, the risk which it incurs is by nomeans a great one. Such a household regulation as the pro-hibition above mentioned would be exceedingly difficult tocarry out in practice, though obviously effective in theory.The balance between purpose and performance would pro-bably be better maintained by a measure which would regardevery case of overlaying as implying, ipso facto, culpableneglect, if no graver offence, and would inflict a suitablepenalty. We should thus apply a powerful preventive, andat the same time avoid interference with home life by alegislative order which might prove at once irritating andineffectual.
___
BARBERS’ BRUSHES AND CONTAGION.
THE frequency with which the contagion of parasiticsycosis has been traced to its source in a barber’s shop isalmost characteristic of the disease. In our issue datedFeb. 15th attention has once more been directed to this
point in a note on four cases, all of which appear to haveowed their origin to the attentions of one particular operator.The writer, probably with justice, attributes the transferenceof the infective germs in these cases to the use of uncleanbrushes and a common soap supply. He suggests that theformer evil should be obviated by immersing the brush aftereach time of use in boiling water. As regards the soap, asafeguard already exists in the practice, now common amonghairdressers, of using for each client a separate portion of soap-cream, thus avoiding all danger of intermixture. The sugges-tion respecting the brush is well worthy the attention ofbarbers, and we might add a further injunction that the waterbe not only boiling, but fortified in its cleansing property bysome simple antiseptic. It is taken for granted that therazor being both easily and regularly cleaned is rarely, ifever, a medium of infection. The uncomfortable owner ofa sycosis eruption will grant his emphatic assent to theancient saying which lauds prevention more than cure.
Since, moreover, as stated in the paper to which we havealready alluded, an occasional razor cut may occasion thetransference of more serious diseases by the mixture ofblood with soapsuds, every cleanly precaution becomes themore imperative.
-
CURIOUS SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT THEDROWNED.
READERS of Mark Twain’s works will have been amused
by the accounts given of the methods-such as firing acannon over the water-employed for bringing a drownedbody to the surface. Similar superstitions and practiceswould appear to still survive in our own country. In
Cambridgeshire the body of a man is supposed to have beenin the water for over a week, but has not been found,although some of the villagers have paraded up and downthe bank of the river, beating a drum vigorously, in theexpectation that this would cause the body to float. In asimilar case, where a man was drowned in the neighbouringcounty of Huntingdon, the body had remained embeddedin the mud of the river Nene for over a month. Aloaf of bread containing quicksilver had again and
