M 18
A course of elementary instruction in natural science is always required before Hygiene can be studied intelligently, and that the pupils have not had this is very evident.
INSTRUCTION BY MEANS OF LANTERN SLIDES.
In a circular dated 28th March, 1907, the Secretary of State for the Colonies wrote as follows:-
"I think that arrangements can be made in this country for the preparation at a small cost of sets of magic lantern slides suitable to the circumstances of each Colony and, if your Government desires to participate in the scheme, I request that you will furnish me with particulars as to the number of slides required, the special diseases which they should illustrate, &c. On the receipt of this information an estimate of the cost would be obtained and a further communication sent to you.'
Accordingly 51 "Danger to health" slides and 14 slides illustrating Malaria, Plague and other parasites were procured from home. These slides were made the subject of a special course at Saiyingpun, Yaumati and Wantsai Schools. In the case of Saiyingpun the lessons were given immediately after afternoon school. The rooms had to be artificially darkened by closing the jalousies and doors with the result that they soon became stuffy and close, although the number of pupils present was limited to 50 or 60, and hardly fit to keep boys cooped up in for any length of time". The quotation is from a report by the Headmaster.
At Yaumati and Wantsai the lectures were taken after dark. The Headmaster of Yaumati reports:-
"It is impossible to darken the school by artificial means as the windows are not provided with jalousies, so the lectures had to be taken after dark, and this makes it exceedingly awkward for boys who live a considerable distance away from the School, e.g., Kowloon City."
The following comments are extracted from a joint report made to me by the three Headmasters:-
"Set 1. The slides illustrating:-
Contamination of water, dampness in houses, vitiation of air by sewer gas, ventilation, "made" sites, defective drains, cesspits, &c., were interesting; but those showing w.c.'s, traps in sculleries and kitchens, failed to interest the pupils; and not unnaturally, since they concern "foreign" houses only, Chinese kitchens and latrines being managed on altogether different lines.
Set 2. This set dealt principally with Micro-organisms; bacilli of Typhoid, Cholera, Consumption, Small-pox, &c. They were beyond the pupils; though they might do for medical students and others interested in bacteriology. Consequently they were regarded as so many illustrations of but passing interest. Old friends like the culex and anopheles mosquitoes, acarus, flea, louse, varieties of intestinal worms,