PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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his belief in sorcery much modified; the impression left on his mind is probably that the white doctor's enchantments which healed him were more potent than those of the sorcerer who bewitched him. It will, at any rate, not have escaped his notice that endless importance is laid upon cleanliness in a hospital, and he may, therefore, in a dim way come to associate cleanliness with good health. With such slight progress it appears the Administration must, for the present, remain contented.
Another means taken to educate the native in this respect is by means of the "Native Board Regulations." Three of these bear directly upon the subject, viz.: (1) Burials regulation; (2) Contagious diseases; (3) Cleanliness of villages. The Native Board Regulations are all translated into the best-known native dialect.
The Administrator has sent to the Bishop of New Guinea copies of the two sets of lectures which have been delivered at Lagos, with a suggestion that they should be utilized in educating the European and half-caste children at the small school at Samarai, which is conducted by the Anglican Mission.
South Africa.
Transvaal.
At the Normal College, human physiology continues to be taught as a subject obligatory on candidates for the teacher's certificate of the 3rd class, while a series of lectures upon School Hygiene is included in the school organization course. A course of lectures for teachers, designed more particularly to meet the needs of the Transvaal, is now being prepared by the Medical Officer of Health for the Munici- pality of Johannesburg, as the outcome of a conference between the members of the Johannesburg Teaching Association and the Health Committee of the Municipal Council of that town. Application has been made to the various Colonies for the publications named in the fourth paragraph of the Circular of the 26th August, 1905, and when these are received, a syllabus for the systematic teaching of bygiene in the elementary schools of the Colony, which is now in course of preparation, will be completed. In the meantime, a provisional syllabus is being completed. This syllabus, with modifications to suit the circumstances of different schools, is as follows:-
Nervous system, functions.
Heat and blood vessels.-Circulation of the blood; arteries; veins and capil-
laries, their structure.
Respiration.-Lungs, structure and functions of; nose breathing and its im-
portance; throat.
Muscles and tendons, their use.
Skeleton.-General information of the bones of the body; joints, nature of. Digestion.-Care of the teeth.
Digestion. Structure of stomach and process of.
Kidneys. Their action as eliminators of waste products.
Skin. Its functions; cleanliness.
Special organs of sense.-Eye, ear, nose.
Foodstuffs, diets.-Nature and varieties.
Clothing-Varieties; suitable and unsuitable forms and materials.
Exercise. Importance in maintaining and improving physique; effects on
respiration and nutrition'; walking; standing; sitting.
Germs.
Chemistry of air and water.
Ventilation; cleanliness of rooms; dryness about the house; water; filters;
provisions for cleansing drinking vessels; closets.
Bechuanaland.
The Acting Resident Commissioner states that he can only report that during the year 1905, no progress was made in imparting a knowledge of tropical hygiene to the natives of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
A communication was made to the authorities at Tiger Kloof on the subject in accordance with the Secretary of State's despatch, No. 505, of the 1st of September, 1905, and the Reverend W. C. Willoughby, the Principal of the Institu- tion, has written as follows with reference to what has been done and what it is proposed to do in the matter:-----
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"During this year we have taught some very elementary physiology to the boys in this institution, and we have given them practical lessons in personal cleanliness and in the care of their persons and their rooms. Indeed, we have paid so much attention to this matter that we raised a serious school rebellion against our latrine regulations; but we remained firm, and the regulations are now observed and are to some extent understood by the boys. We intend to take the boys further into a knowledge of some of the elements of hygiene, as fast as they can bear it; and we shall aim at making our lessons always of practical utility to the boys that we teach. But the difficulty of teaching tropical hygiene, even in an elementary form, to native schools, is immense. And the greatest difficulty of all consists in finding even European teachers who know anything at all of the subject, or even such text-books as will assist them in understanding such of the truths of tropical hygiene as are at all applicable to the conditions of native life. And when one thinks of the only available native teachers, one smiles at the suggestion that they should teach anything of tropical hygiene.
Another difficulty is the medium of instruction. If it is in English it is vain to hope that any but the most advanced pupils in a native institu- tion will be able to understand the terms that it is absolutely necessary to use in teaching this subject. And if it is in Sechuana, then it is not too much to say that not one in ten of the necessary terms could be satisfactorily translated into that language.
And yet I agree that it is very desirable to teach the elements of tropical hygiene to the natives of Bechuanaland; and if it be clearly under- stood that one is speaking only of the most elementary truths of this science, then one might venture to say that it can perhaps be done."
Southern Rhodesia.
The teaching of tropical hygiene has been added to the curriculum of all State- aided schools, including native mission schools. been given to the study of the mosquito, its life history and it fever-spreading During 1906 prominence has properties, and copies of, the pamphlet by Dr. Strachan, the Chief Medical Officer at Lagos, entitled "A course of simple lectures on elementary hygiene," were distributed to teachers and such portions of these lectures as were particularly applicable to Southern Rhodesia were imparted to the pupils of the various classes. North-Western Rhodesia.
No systematic teaching of tropical hygiene has as yet been attempted, and it is doubted whether the country is yet ripe for such an attempt. There are only three settlements of white people with any population beyond, say, from half a dozen to a dozen persons, and there is only one school in the territory, and that a native Barotse one. Apart from systematic teaching of the subject, however, the District Commissioners, Collectors, &c., are acquainted, generally speaking, with some rudi- mentary rules of tropical hygiene, and as far as they are able to do so they enlighten the natives on the subject. The Acting Administrator states that so soon as any scheme of education is introduced consideration both in the case of European and native schools."
this all-important subject will receive every
St. Helena.
The
During 1905 a course of weekly lectures on the elementary laws of health, illustrated by lantern slides, was given to school teachers and others. course extended for a period of two months. The lectures were well attended, most of them being illustrated by lantern slides specially imported for the purpose. It is now intended to hold an examination in the subject for school teaghers. It is considered that the special hand-book is not required for St. Helena, the Governor being of opinion that where instruction is necessary on special points, which are very few, it can be given orally for the present, at any rate. Malaria is non-existent
in St. Helena, and, in fact, from a health point of view the island can hardly be termed a tropical Colony. Further, primary education alone is attempted in the St. Helena classes, and the Governor doubts whether set lessons on hygiene by the