made under dirty conditions, or carelessly packed or stored, or which has been kept for so long a time as to have deteriorated materially, in solubility, and flavour. The statement is made dogmatically that "dried milk can be used successfully in the rearing of sound and healthy infants." Normal children fed on dried milk increase regularly in weight, and are firm and healthy, not flabby and fat. For "mixed feeding," partly by breast and partly by some form of cows' milk, dried milk seems excellently suited. Dr. Coutts says: "To sum up, I think that most normal infants can take full-cream dried milk perfectly well and probably with definite advantage, at least after the first three months of life, provided that the total quantity of food given in the twenty-four hours is not excessive. commencing the use of dried milk for a particular infant, however, it is probably wise to begin with a partly skimmed variety, going on rapidly to the fullcream variety if experience shows that the fat is well borne." Many have hesitated to use dried milk for fear it might predispose to the development of scurvy and rickets, but the opinion is expressed dogmatically that "prolonged experience of dried milk has served to allay the fears formerly expressed that its continued use might lead to scurvy or rickets." The advantages of dried milk for adults, and particularly nursing mothers, is referred

In

to. An important section of the Report deals with administrative considerations. For the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, dried milk appears to come within the definition of condensed milk. Dr. Coutts appends to his informing and suggestive report a valuable bibliography. Mr. Winfield's report on his clinical researches and experiments on animals forms an interesting supplement to Dr. Coutts's lengthy report. The conclusion reached is this: "Cow's milk during the process of desiccation loses none of the characters which are necessary for the support of normal growth in infants." The reports of Sir James J. Dobbie, the Government Chemist, on a number of varieties of milk powders form a valuable conclusion to this very complete official statement. The whole work has been wisely planned and carried through with conspicuous ability and in a thoroughly scientific and judicial

manner. Dried milk has come to stay. Its place as a safe and desirable nutrient may now be considered as firmly established. Doubtless improvements will be introduced in the methods of preparation, and we shall learn more as to the best ways in which reconstitution of dried milk into liquid milk may be accomplished. It is to be hoped also that means may be found whereby the present cost of dried milk may be lowered. The reports of Dr. Coutts and his colleagues will doubtless arouse opposition in various quarters, and it is certainly desirable that all the claims made for dried milk, as well as all the condemnations brought against it, should receive the fullest possible consideration. The issue of these official reports at the present time is most timely, and we commend them to all dealing with problems of alimentation and questions of nutrition in war times, as well as to all medical officers and advisers responsible for the care of mothers, infants, and young children.

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS.

"Open-air schools represent one of the latest developments in public school organization. They came as the result of a desire for better conservation of the health of those children who, by reason of a tuberculous affection, poor nourishment, or other debilitating conditions, were unable to profit physically and mentally by the life and work of regular indoor schools. This method of dealing with physically defective children signalizes one of the most interesting and decided changes undertaken in school management for many centuries. Indoor schools have for the most part grown and developed under the idea that teachers had to do with the minds and not with the bodies of children, while open-air schools are based on the conception that the first essential to a worthy education is sound bodily health. The former grew out of the error of assuming that mind is not closely associated with the physical body and that early mental training was paramount to the demands of health; the latter have grown out of a new emphasis on the value of health and physical soundness and recently discovered facts bearing on the nature of certain diseases and the best methods of protecting human

life from the possible effects of these diseases." These words appear to the Introduction to a particularly valuable monograph on "Open-air Schools," recently issued as Bulletin 1916, No. 23, from the Government Printing Office, Washington, for the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior of the United States of America. The work has been prepared by Mr. Sherman C. Kingsley, who has accomplished such notable service as Director of the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund of Chicago, established by Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Hall McCormick in memory of their little daughter and "to improve the condition of child life in the United States. Dr. F. B. Dresslar, of Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn., U.S.A., has co-operated in the production of the work, and Miss Mabel Brown Ellis has assisted. The Bulletin is the most complete study of open-air schools yet published, and it should be in the hands of all medical advisers and educationists responsible for the organization and administration of measures relating to tuberculous, tuberculously disposed, and delicate children. As readers of THE CHILD are aware the publishers of this journal recently issued a "Year Book of OpenAir Schools and Children's Sanatoria" (price 7s. 6d. net), which provides information regarding the growth of the Open-air Schools Movement in this cou try, and gives details of the various agencies and institutions providing openair education and treatment in Great Britain. To all who have studied American open-air schools the Bulletin issued by the U.S.A. Bureau of Education will be particularly serviceable. It affords information regarding all essentials in the establishment, equipment, and conduct of open-air schools. Details are given of the chief of these schools in America, Great Britain and other countries. The sections on the Educational Organization and the Curricula of Open-air Schools will be of particular service to teachers. There are also recipes for use in the preparation of suitable dietaries. The volume also contains a list of open-air schools in America, a select bibliography, and much other material of practical value. It should also be noted that the volume is supplied with an abundance of plans and pictures. The results of open-air schools is admir

ably summarized: "The chief object of these schools has been to build up the health of the children, in order that they may become more capable of assimilating and benefiting by the instructions given in the ordinary schools, and that they may thereby become better qualified for the duties of life. There has

been an indirect effect upon the community itself and upon the general school problem, for the open-air school, in addition to its direct ministry to the children involved, has become an educational laboratory, where more natural and less formal methods have been used, and where experiments and systems have been tried which are directed to the needs of children. Wherever there is an open-air school will be found a group of people who are deeply interested in the school problem and who are determined that the public schools shall be as rich and fruitful as it is possible for the community to make them. They believe that it should be impossible for any pupil to sit through the seven or eight years required of every child, with his handicaps undiscovered and unrelieved, and his school experience impaired or negatived by the presence of remediable defects. The immediate purpose of the open-air school will be realized only when all debilitated children now in. the regular schools have a chance for fresh air, sufficient food, and a general hygienic life. The intimate purpose is to keep the children from getting sick and anæmic by emphasizing the rights of all to a sanitary and wholesome life." We sincerely trust that it may be possible for copies of this enlightening and stimulating Bulletin to be circulated among school medical officers and all educationists responsible for the organization and administration of schools in this country.

DAY SANATORIA SCHOOLS FOR LONDON CHILDREN.

There are large numbers of tuberculous and tuberculously disposed children in the metropolitan area requiring special care, extra nourishment, and open-air educational management. Unless these children receive suitable supervision and treatment there will be an increase in the heavy toll which tuberculosis already levies on the young life of the nation.

The London County Council has recently addressed the following letter to the metropolitan borough councils: "In connection with the comprehensive scheme for the treatment of tuberculosis in London, the County Council has under consideration the question of the desirability of the establishment of day sanatoria for children, in association with the tuberculosis dispensaries of the metropolitan borough councils. As the result of inquiries it has been ascertained that many children are suffering from tuberculosis in its various forms to such an extent as to preclude their attendance at the ordinary elementary schools, and it has been urged that in many instances they would gain considerable benefit and, perhaps, complete cure, from attendance at such institutions, where treatment would be the dominant feature, and where such education would be given as is suitable to the condition of the children. In a few of the metropolitan boroughs arrangements of the kind indicated have been initiated by voluntary committees, working in conjunction with the dispensaries, and the Council, as the local education authority, has made provision for the supply of teachers. It is felt that these arrangements, which for some time past have been under close observation by the Council, may be regarded as the basis of a development likely to prove of material assistance in the work of combating the disease, and the Council thinks that, as the arrangements for day sanatoria are necessarily closely related to the work of the dispensaries, the establishment of day sanatoria might be regarded as part of the work of the dispensaries. It is understood that the Local Government Board would be prepared to regard day sanatoria established in connection with tuberculosis dispensaries of the metropolitan borough councils as part of the dispensary organization, and to pay a grant of 50 per cent. of any expenditure incurred by the borough councils concerned, and I am directed to ask whether your council would be prepared to extend the scope of its dispensary scheme in the direction indicated, on the understanding that the provision of education, so far as it may be deemed necessary, shall be afforded by the Council as the local education authority for the County of London ?"

The Lambeth Public Health Committee, after considering this pronouncement, have issued the following statement : "There are, at present, two alternative methods in use in the metropolis for dealing with tuberculous school children, the one known as 'day sanatoria for children,' and the other as 'open-air schools for tuberculous children' the former in association with the tuberculosis dispensaries, and to be provided by metropolitan, city and borough councils, as health authorities, and the latter in association with education, and to be provided by the London County Council, as the education authority. The London County Council's letter deals with the former method as the one suggested for metropolitan districts, but we are of opinion that the latter method is the better from all points of view-financially and administratively-as the County Council is not only the education authority, but also the authority for the institutional treatment of tuberculosis. All experts are agreed as to the value of open air for tuberculous children as part of their 'after-care' treatment, and the subject has been under consideration, in so far as the Borough of Lambeth is concerned, by the Lambeth Interim Tuberculosis Care Committee, which was provisionally appointed on February 22, 1916, for Lambeth Borough by the County Council, under powers granted for the purpose under the National Insurance Acts, 1911-1913, and the Public Health (Treatment of Diseases) Act, 1913, with the approval of the Local Government Board. An application has recently been made by the Lambeth Care Committee to the County Council in favour of an open-air school for tuberculous children being provided in the Borough of Lambeth, similar to the one that has already been provided in another metropolitan borough by the County Council, as the education authority, known as Kensal House School, and this is, at present, under the consideration of the County Council education department. The matter is one that concerns the County Council as the education authority, rather than the city and borough councils as health authorities, and we suggest that the County Council should be so informed in reply to their letter. We are

of opinion, however, that emphasis should be laid, in the reply, upon the fact that, in our opinion, such open-air schools for tuberculous children are a necessity, and accordingly recommend: That a munication be addressed to the London County Council, embodying the opinion of the Public Health Committee as set out above."

COMING EVENTS.

:

com

to

The fifth course of lectures and discussions on "Public Health Problems under War and After-War Conditions" is being held at the Royal Institute of Public Health, 37, Russell Square, W.C.1, on Wednesdays in May, June and July, 1918, at 4 p.m., as follows: May 1: "Ambulance Work in its relation Municipal and National Service," by Colonel Sir James Cantlie, K.B.E., F.R.C.S.; Chairman: The Right Hon. Evelyn Cecil, M.P. May 8: "Hours of Work and After War Labour Conditions in relation to Health," by the Right Hon. Lord Leverhulme; Chairman: The Right Hon. Frederick Huth Jackson. May 15: "Accessory Components of Food," by Professor W. M. Bayliss, D.Sc., F.R.S.; Chairman Professor Sir Henry Thompson, K.B.E., M.D. May 22: "The Dying out of Native Races," by Captain W. H. R. Rivers, M.D., R.A.M.C.; Chairman: The Right Hon. W. A. S. Hewins, M.P. May 29: "The Conservation of Milk," by Prof. Sheridan Delépine, M.B., M.Sc.; Chairman: The Right Hon. Rowland E. Prothero, M.P., M.V.O. June 5 "The Evolution of Aeronautics," by Major Martin W. Flack, M.A., M.B.; Chairman: Prof. Sir W. Watson Cheyne, Bart., K.C.M.G., C.B., M.P., Ex-P. R.C.S. June 12: "Some Effects of the War as shown in Vital Statistics," by Sir Bernard Mallet, K.C.B.; Chairman: The Right Hon. Lord D'Abernon, K.C.M.G. June 19: "The Influence of a Ministry of Health on Local Organization and Administration," by Professor E. W. Hope, M.D., D.Sc.; Chairman: The Right Hon. Lord Rhondda. June 26: "The Housing Problem," by A. Maxwell Williamson, Esq., M.D., B.Sc.; Chairman: Sir Arthur Newsholme, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P. July 3"How Open Air acts on Health,"

by Professor Leonard E. Hill, M.B., F.R.S.; Chairman: Sir Napier Shaw, M.A., D.Sc.

The annual May Meeting of the National Children's Home and Orphanage will be held in the Mansion House on May 1, at 3 p.m.; the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of London will preside.

A L.C.C. lecture on Apprenticeship and Technical Education," by the Right Hon. J. Hodge, M.P., Minister of Pensions, will be given on May 3, at 6 p.m., in the Kingsway Hall.

The Seventy-fourth Annual Meeting of the Shaftesbury Society will be held in the Kingsway Hall, Kingsway, W.C., on Saturday, May 4, at 3 p.m., when the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.P., will preside. Tickets and full particulars may be obtained on application to headquarters of the Shaftesbury Society, 32, John Street, Theobald's Road, W.C.1.

In the Gardens of the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, S.E., demonstrations on Practical Bee-keeping will be given at 3.30 p.m., on the first Saturday of each month from May to October, 1918, admission being free. Teachers and others interested in bee-keeping should make a note of the following Saturdays: May 4, June 1, July 6, August 3, September 7, October 5.

The National Baby Week Council, 1918, have arranged for a course of six lectures for prospective speakers and others interested in the Baby Week Campaign. The lectures will be given on Mondays, May 6, 13, 27, June 3, 10 and 17, at 5.30 p.m., at Dr. Williams's Library, 14, Gordon Square, W.C. May 6: "Mothercraft in the Rearing of an Imperial Race," by F. Truby King, M.B., B.Sc.; Chairman: Eric Pritchard, M.D. May 13: "Baby Week: Its Objects and its Future," by Miss Alice Elliott; Chairman; Mrs. H. B. Irving. May 27: "Provision for Maternity," by J. H. Fairbairn, F.R.C.S.; Chairman: R. Murray Leslie, M.D. June 3: "Civic Responsibility with regard to Child Welfare," by Harold Scurfield, M.D., D.P.H.; Chairman: Amand Routh, M.D., F.R.C.P. June 10: "The Working-class Mother's Point of View," by Mrs. H. B. Irving; Chairman : Lady Nott-Bower. June 17: "Factors in Infant Mortality," by C. W. Saleeby, M.D.; Chairman: Sir John Kirk, J.P.

A provincial sessional meeting of the Royal Sanitary Institute is to be held at the Town Hall, Hereford, on Friday, May 10, at 5 p.m., and on Saturday, May 11, at 10 a.m.

The Parents' National Educational Union are arranging for a One-day Conference to be held in the Botanical Theatre of University College, Gower Street, W.C., on May 31, from 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m., and from 2.45 to 5 p.m. Particulars may be obtained on application to the P.N.E. U. offices, 26, Victoria Street, Westminster, S. W.1.

At the Battersea Polytechnic, S.W.11, a course of four lectures on "The Physiology of the Adolescent Girl" will be given by Dr. Christine Murrell, on Tuesdays, May 29 and June 4, 11, and 18, at 5.30 p.m. A course has also been arranged for Child Study, intended primarily for child welfare workers, school nurses, and teachers preparing for the School Hygiene Certificates of the Royal Sanitary Institute and the National Froebel Examination.

In connection with the work of the Mary Sumner House, 8, Dean's Yard, Westminster, S. W. 1, educational lectures and religious addresses will be given during the summer term. A special course is to be given, by kind permission of Lady Plunket, at 6, Ormonde Gate, S. W., on "The Hygiene of Infancy," by Dr. Hazel Chodak.

The Council of the London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), Clare Market, Portugal Street, Kingsway, W.C.2, have issued an attractive Time-table of Lectures for the Summer Term. A special course is being given on "New Forms of Social Effort."

The Committee of the Montessori Society, the headquarters of which are at 11, Tavistock Square, W.C.1, are arranging for demonstrations, followed by discussion, to be given at the Children's House of St. Bartholomew, 226, Gray's Inn Road, for teachers who have already gone through a course of study in the Montessori Method, on Saturday mornings from 10 to 12. The special fee is 125. 6d. A series of fortnightly lectures on Dr. Montessori's Advanced Method for children from 7 to 10 years of age have begun at 11, Tavistock Square.

In connection with the Summer School at Bangor in August, Miss H. Newman is giving a special course of lectures on the Montessori Method. It is also hoped that a series of discussion meetings on Dr. Montessori's new book, "the Advanced Montessori Method," will be held at Oxford during August. A course of instruction for children's nurses will be arranged as soon as sufficient applications are received at 11, Tavistock Square, W.C.1.

The Educational Handwork Association hope to hold Summer Schools for Handwork at Bangor, Falmouth, and St. Anne's-on-Sea, and for Physical Training only at Bangor, from July 29 to August 24. Information may be obtained as follows: For Bangor School from Mr. J. Tipping, 35, Lower Rushton Road, Bradford, Yorks; for Falmouth School from Mr. C. Seaman, 38, Victoria Park Avenue, Cardiff; for St. Anne's-on-Sea School from Prof. J. A. Green, M.A., The University, Sheffield; for Physical Training Classes from Mr. H. A. Cole, 19, Upper Albert Road, Sheffield. All particulars regarding the Association can be obtained from the Secretary, Mr. J. Spittle, 16, Cambridge Road, Huddersfield.

The Co-operative Union are arranging for Co-operative Summer Schools to be held as follows: Scotland, at Larne, June 29-July 13; Ireland, July 6-20; Bradley Court, Mitcheldean, near Gloucester, July 27-August 17; Maidenhead, August 24-September 7; Plymouth (at Whympstone Hall, near Modbury), August 31-September 17. Intending students should communicate with Mr. C. E. Wood, Holyoake House, Manchester.