squad to see what they are doing; it will be clean-up work under supervision of a squad member if the culprit is guilty, and it may be in extreme cases a visit from the parents or a week or two in the tardy room, an after-school penal colony which houses the careless or vicious members of the school community.

What is the result of the year's experiment? Can we say that we had a changed school at the end of the year? Yes and no. At the beginning the attitude of the student body was that of a critical, nonsympathetic, and often directly antagonistic body of scoffers. But little by little, as they saw the boys of the squad devotedly working for the common good, unmindful of the gibes of the crowd, a change began to be felt. Older boys, who at first were openly troublesome or who made fun of the squad workers, began to take an active interest and even to appear at meetings. One body of older boys, of their own volition, formed a hygiene club, procured lecturers, and began to cooperate actively with the younger fellows. Best of all, as faculty recognition came and notices of a favorable nature began to make their appearance in the school paper, the student body commenced to wake up to the fact that it was pleasanter to have their surroundings clean. The lunch room, which in former days, after the lunch period, was a disorderly chaos of torn papers, half-eaten fruit, and spattered odds and ends of schoolboy lunches, became really livable, so that after 1,500 boys have finished eating, another relay of like size may be sent to the room almost without touching the room or its contents. The halls and most of the rooms are now kept in fairly good condition, in spite of the occasional dirty or careless boy. But, best of all, is a spirit, a subtle something, that has crept into the school as a whole, which makes the De Witt Clinton student think of the other fellow and his rights, helps him to understand that sacrifice for the right is to be desired, and teaches him. the best lesson of the future citizen, that of cooperation with authority for the common good.

F. IMPROVING HYGIENIC CONDITIONS AMONG THE NATIVE SCHOOL CHILDREN OF ALASKA.

WILLIAM HAMILTON,

United States Bureau of Education.

The efforts of the Bureau of Education to safeguard the health of the Alaskan natives include: (1) The maintenance of four small hospitals in important centers of native population; (2) contracts with three hospitals for the treatment of diseased natives; (3) the employment of traveling physicians who devote their entire time to the medical and sanitary work among the natives in their districts;

(4) the employment of nurses who assist the physicians and do exceedingly valuable work for the children in the schoolrooms; and (5) the providing of medical supplies and textbooks to the teachers of the schools throughout Alaska to enable them to treat minor ailments and intelligently to supervise hygienic measures.

In the native villages the teachers and nurses endeavor to establish proper sanitary conditions by inspecting the houses, by insisting upon the proper disposal of garbage, and by giving instruction in sanitary methods of living. Natives are encouraged to replace their filthy huts by neat, well-ventilated houses. Many of the school buildings contain bathtubs and facilities for the proper washing of clothing. In many schools sputum cups and individual drinking cups and towels are provided. The bathing and laundry facilities furnished are usually greatly appreciated.

In some of the native villages the results of the efforts of the teachers and missionaries are evident in the orderly streets and wellbuilt houses containing all the necessary articles of furniture, pictures, and books. The natives in places such as these are selfrespecting, thrifty people, and their children are as clean as those in the average village in the States.

In other settlements not reached by civilizing influences the conditions are such as to appall the most enthusiastic social worker. The houses are wretched hovels, constructed of driftwood, crowded together on an ill-smelling beach covered with garbage of all kinds, including discarded articles of clothing, old tin cans, and putrefying offal polluting the air with its horrible odors. In such a village the houses contain but a single room each, very dirty and without ventilation. Into it men, women, and children are herded, a stove and a bed being the only articles of furniture. The bed is usually used as a "catch-all" for a great assortment of articles, the natives preferring to sit, eat, and sleep on the floor.

The establishment of a United States public school in such a village and the advent of a teacher mark the inauguration of a crusade against filth and disease. The methods used in order to establish hygienic conditions among the school children coming from homes such as those just described can best be told in the words of one of the workers:

The clinic work of the school usually commenced with a talk on parasites and the necessity for cleanliness, and this was followed by an inspection of the entire class. Two and sometimes three of the older pupils were selected as assistants. The boys were taken to the clinic room, and after I had clipped each boy's hair my assistants gave him a shampoo with antiseptic soap, dressed his hair with a fine comb, and anointed it with coal oil. Talks upon hygiene were given each day and the worst cases were used as illustrations. After the talk my assistants examined the heads of all the children, and when neces

sary gave the above-described treatment. The assistants soon learned to do their work quickly and well and seemed much interested in it.

My principal rules were: “Keep clean. Wash your face. Wash your hands. Wash your neck. Wash your ears. Wash your teeth every day. Bathe your whole body with soap and warm water at least once a week." After these rules were well understood, any child who came to school with a dirty face was brought before the class for consideration. The usual verdict was "Scrub 'em good with soap and warm water." After the assistants were through with him the subject was usually a shining example of cleanliness. It was most encouraging to see the results of a little teaching, for after four or five weeks it was a rare occurrence to have a child come to school with dirty hands or face. The children soon developed pride in their personal appearance and would strive to have their few torn clothes at least clean. The desire for cleanliness spread to the homes, and fathers and brothers were frequently brought to school to be put through the clipping and cleaning process.

G. HYGIENE IN THE PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS.

A. J. MCLAUGHLIN, M. D.,

United States Public Health Service,

Practical hygiene is taught in the Philippine schools even in the lower grades. In this country we are prone to overlook the enormous influence of school children upon the hygiene of the home. The children of poor, ill-educated parents are often the intermediary through which the simple gospel of hygiene and disease prevention reaches the parents. In the Philippines this is even more true, and in many instances it is only because of the children that the parents carry out the instructions of the health officer.

In combating cholera we were not slow to take advantage of the schools. A cholera circular containing the simple facts of the spread and prevention of cholera was used as a catechism even in the elementary grades. The children recited the answers daily, and in times of actual epidemic this teaching took precedence over all other studies and was supplemented by actual demonstration of hand cleansing and disinfection.

With an epidemic of contagious disease existing, there is a tendency in most communities to close the schools. In the Philippines, on the contrary, it is the policy of the bureau of health to keep the schools open because of their extraordinary value in teaching the precepts of disease prevention.

They were used in cholera epidemics as demonstrating stations where the children were taught how to protect themselves and their parents against cholera. The same principle is used in combating tuberculosis, hookworm, dysentary, and beri-beri. The children are taught how these diesases are contracted and how they may be prevented.

The modern Philippine school building is a model of construction, adapted to the Tropics. There is no heating problem in the Philippines, and as a consequence ventilation is very much simplified. Water supply and sewage disposal are directly under the control of the bureau of health. The pupils are specially trained in the necessity of thorough hand cleansing after using the toilet and before eating. The children have been used also to eliminate the timehonored Filipino custom of eating with the fingers out of one common family dish.

The dense ignorance of sanitary principles and the oriental fatalism of the older generation could not be successfully combated without the aid of the school children. With their aid a very great improvement has been effected.

There is now in Manila a very efficient medical inspection of schools. This is particularly effective because of the splendid facilities of the bureau of health for giving medical treatment. The city is divided into health districts with free dispensaries and hospitals where the school children are treated. In this country the health department can often do no more than recommend treatment. In Manila the child is reported to the bureau of health, and the powers and organization are such that control is easily maintained until the child is returned to school cured. Special attention is paid to the teeth of children, and these are treated in the free dental clinics of the Philippines General Hospital. During the school year ended March 29, 1912, in Manila over 2,400 children were referred to the hospitals and dispensaries of the bureau of health for treatment.

The effect of the teaching and practice of hygiene in the Philippine schools is manifest in the improved physical condition of the pupils, and it is a powerful instrument in the sanitary regeneration of a nation.

XII. MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.

X. HOW WOMEN'S CLUBS CAN AID THE HYGIENE MOVEMENT.

ELSA DENISON,

Bureau of Municipal Research, New York, N. Y.

The greatest service of women's clubs during the next few years will be to apply everywhere what we already know; to use all the machinery already available in every city and every country; and to carry out definite programs based on the proved experience of other communities.

The cities and towns where there in not adequate medical inspection, examination, and treatment of physical defects, where all school buildings are not properly cleaned, ventilated, heated, lighted, outnumber 10 to 1 the cities and towns where even a beginning has been made.

There is no need for more organizations of women. There is no need for wasting precious time while communities " grow up" to health facts. There is no need for added experimentation about the more important phases of school hygiene, i. e., the physical condition of the children themselves and the environment they go to school in. May I suggest, therefore, that our "prophecies and promises for the next few years group themselves under the following four heads:

1. Use fact-giving machinery.-Women's clubs will use the machinery already in full swing to avoid being handicapped by lack of facts. Reference agencies like this congress, the United States Bureau of Education, bureaus of municipal research, the Russell Sage Foundation, State and local boards of health, tuberculosis associations, etc., are spending thousands of dollars every year getting facts, making them available, answering questions.

2. Draw 100 per cent pictures.-Women's clubs will use the machinery of all organized women, whether in their clubs or in other clubs, to give to their city a 100 per cent picture of school health needs in that city. If an inspecting committee finds one school with unwashed windows and dirty floors, the club machinery will ask, How many more? If 90 out of every 100 children in our schools were found with decaying teeth, club women will ask, How many more? and How can they all be fixed? If a building is found with one open-air room for 20 children and bad air for 980 children in all other rooms, club women will ask, What's the use?

3. Enlist professional cooperation.-Women's clubs will use the machinery of their local medical and dental associations and their local groups of business men to secure (a) publicity about health needs not met; (b) preliminary volunteer examinations; (e) financial support by the city.

4. Solve other health problems.-Women's clubs will use the machinery of the whole city administration to correct conditions affecting the health of school children or school buildings. Constant watching, reporting to authorities specific bad conditions, following up promised improvements, will be given to the questions of clean streets around school and for play: prompt garbage removal; where drinking water comes from; how milk is analyzed; what cake, candy, soda, and ice cream in shops near schools is made of, etc.