glass is observed to consist of numerous angular and resinous fragments of a greyishbrown colour, and of variable size, which are blackish or even quite black. These are best seen when the powdered scammony is viewed as an opaque object. In the residue left after the removal of the resin by sulphuric ether, considerable quantities of vegetable tissue, cellular tissue, woody fibre, fragments of spiral vessels, and stellate cells may frequently be detected by the microscope.

Adulterations.-Scammony is largely adulterated in the country of its production, and again on its arrival in England. The following substances are generally used for this purpose: chalk, starch, guaiacum, jalap, colophony, dextrine, gum tragacanth, bassorine, sand, and sulphate of lime.

Detection of Adulterations.-Jalap resin is insoluble in ether and oil of turpentine; digested in a watch-glass with oil of vitriol, a crimson-coloured solution is obtained.

Guaiacum.-A piece of paper moistened with the tincture becomes blue when exposed

to nitrous acid fumes.

Starch may be detected by the microscope and by the iodine test. Corrosive sublimate with almond soap produces a blue colour, and if a solution of ammonia be mixed with any substance containing guaiacum, a very frothy liquid is the result.

Resin is dissolved by turpentine, which has a very slight action upon scammony. Sulphuric acid dropped upon resin immediately reddens it, whereas dropped upon scammony this red colouration is only produced after some minutes. The odour also of resin is very perceptible when scammony adulterated with it is triturated in a mortar.

Dextrine and starch may be detected by the microscope and the addition of iodine.

The inorganic adulterations will be easily detected by an examination of the ash.

Scarlet Fever-See FEVER, SCARLET. Scavenging, Removal of Refuse-A proper disposal of refuse is as necessary in the case of an isolated country-house as in that of an urban dwelling. In the former case, where there is a garden there can be no difficulty about the matter, nor should there be any nuisance. The refuse-such as potato-parings, cabbage-stalks, ashes, and other solid débrisis used upon the garden, and in the meantime stored for use at a distance from the house in a water-tight, covered, ventilated receptacle, the grand rule to be kept in mind being that household refuse must be kept dry, and must be stored in small quantities only. The place for storing refuse is usually called an ashpit. A proper ashpit for an ordinary house should

not be too large: it should have a proper sloping cover, fitting tightly, so as not to admit any rain; the bottom should be so constructed as to be perfectly dry, and there should be a small ventilating-pipe communicating with the interior.

The most difficult cases with regard to the disposal of refuse are villages where a house, and often a whole block of houses, have no back door nor any yard whatever, and the rest of the village so well provided in this respect that the appointment of a scavenger for the whole place is out of the question. In such a case the owner or owners should contrive to get a place where a common ashpit could be built for the whole, and the occupiers by subscribing a small sum could have this periodically emptied. This voluntary action failing, the sanitary authority have power to build a proper receptacle, and make bylaws, casting upon the occupier the duty of removing his refuse at certain intervals.

Another difficult case, which as it has actually occurred in the author's district, and as there may be others analogous to it, it may be of use to mention, is that of a small fishing hamlet situated close to the sea, whilst behind and on all sides arise precipitous rocks. Few of the houses in the place alluded to had any yards at the back whatever. The refuse itself was extremely offensive, consisting of the débris of fish. Removal by horses and carts was out of the question, and as it was a most romantic spot, visited by thousands, it was important that a good system of scavenging should be adopted. The difficulties were met by the erection of public ash-receptacles and the appointment of a scavenger, who by means of donkeys conveyed the refuse half a mile from the place to be utilised on the land.

In houses with deficient back premises most of the offensive refuse, especially that of a vegetable nature, can be thrown on the back of the kitchen fire, and allowed to smoulder harmlessly away; but these simple remedies dirty and careless people are slow to adopt.

It may be laid down that in all rural villages or places under the jurisdiction of rural authorities, there are at least two cases in which either a scavenger should be appointed, or at all events arrangements made for the removal of refuse by any of the legal provisions given at the end of this article

1. Where any general nuisance arises from a want of facility for the removal of refuse. 2. In places sparsely populated during the winter, but which are in summer places of fashionable resort.

On the other hand, in places where there is every facility for the occupier to deal with

district: moreover, every urban authority and any rural authority invested by the Local Government Board with the requisite

As for towns, scavenging of a public nature is one of those essential things so obvious as to need scarcely any notice. The urban authority should see that the ashpits are properly constructed, and that in those cases where, from past unhappy errors of construction, there are no other means of removing all kinds of refuse, including excretal matter, than by hand, the pails, buckets, or boxes are so made that when placed in the street awaiting the arrival of the scavenger no nuisance arises.

Scavenging of an offensive nature-such as the emptying of cesspools, the cleansing of privies, the removal of manure-should not be allowed to be effected except between the hours of 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. Ordinary removal of dust and daily refuse should be permitted at any time except between 9 A.M. and 10 P.M.

The place where street-sweepings, dust, &c., are deposited should be carefully selected by the local authority.

Dust-carts, &c., should have a bell attached to them, and those who have anything which requires removal should put a card in the window with the letter D upon it.

The scavengers should be paid by the local authority; nor should they be allowed, as they frequently are, to extort money in addition to their wages from those who require their services.

It is not lawful to erect or rebuild a house without an ashpit furnished with proper doors and coverings. Penalty for default, £20 or less.—(P. H., s. 35.) And if a house appears to be without a proper ashpit, the local authority is to give notice to the owner or occupier to provide the same. In default the authority may do the work, recovering the expenses summarily. (P. H., s. 36.)

Provision is also made that houses used or intended to be used as a factory shall have a proper ashpit in which to deposit refuse. Penalty for neglect of notice £20, and 40s. per day during default.-(P. H., s. 38.)

Every local authority may, and when required by order of the Local Government Board shall, themselves undertake or contract for

The removal of house refuse from premises; The cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools; either for the whole or any part of their

the said board shall, themselves undertake or contract for the proper cleansing of streets, and may also themselves undertake or contract for the proper watering of streets for the whole or any part of their district.

All matters thus collected by the local authority or contractor may be sold or otherwise disposed of, and any profits thus made by an urban authority shall be carried to the account of the fund or rate applicable by them for the general purposes of the Public Health Act; and any profit thus made by a rural authority in respect of any contributory place shall be carried to the account of the fund or rate out of which expenses thus incurred by that authority in such contributory place are defrayed.

If any person removes or obstructs the local authority or contractor in removing any matters thus authorised to be removed by the local authority, he shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds : provided that the occupier of a house within the district shall not be liable to such penalty in respect of any such matters which are produced on his own premises and are intended to be removed for sale or for his own use, and are in the meantime kept so as not to be a nuisance.-(P. H., s. 42.)

Where the local authority do not themselves undertake or contract for—

The cleansing of footways and pavements adjoining any premises,

The removal of house refuse from any premises,

The cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools belonging to any premises,

they may make bylaws imposing the duty of such cleansing or removal, at such intervals as they think fit, on the occupier of any such premises.

An urban authority may also make bylaws for the prevention of nuisances arising from snow, filth, ashes, and rubbish, and for the prevention of the keeping of animals on any premises so as to be injurious to the public health.-(P. H., s. 44.)

Any urban authority may, if they see fit, provide in proper and convenient situations receptacles for the temporary deposit and collection of dust, ashes, and rubbish; they may also provide fit buildings and places for the deposit of any matters collected by them in pursuance of the Public Health Act.—(P. H., s. 45.)

If a local authority who have themselves

undertaken or contracted for the removal of house refuse from premises, or the cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools fail, without reasonable excuse, after notice in writing from the occupier of any house within their district requiring them to remove any house refuse or to cleanse any earth-closet or privy, belonging to such house or used by the occupiers thereof, to cause the same to be removed or cleansed, as the case may be, within seven days, the local authority shall be liable to pay to the occupier of such house a penalty not exceeding five shillings for every day during which such default continues after the expiration of the said period.—(P. H., s. 43.) See SEWAGE, DISPOSAL OF; SLOPS, &c. Scents-See PERFUMES.

Schools, School Hygiène-The hygiène of schools is naturally subdivided into (1) the school itself as regards site, construction, &c.; and (2) the effect of school influences upon the children.

1. Site, Construction, &c.-In the matter of site, space is of the first importance; but, on the other hand, schools are essential in the most crowded parts of our cities, where suitable positions are difficult to obtain, and the enormous sum required to purchase ground of necessity frequently limits the space on which the school stands to a narrow strip. Here there only appears one remedy-that is, to build schools for poor children in suburban sites, and run free trains or coaches to them.

The most important part of a school is the schoolroom. The Privy Council have laid down

certain rules as to minimum of space and the sanitary conditions of schoolrooms; for example, no school is entitled to receive any annual grant from this source unless it is held "in a building certified to be healthy, properly lighted, drained, and ventilated, supplied with offices, and containing in the principal schoolroom at least 80 cubical feet of internal space for each child in average attendance." On this point Dr Smith very properly remarks, "It is stated, and will not be denied, that a school cannot be properly worked, nor the children assembled in class, with a less amount of floor space; but it seems to me quite below what is desirable. I find that a boy's seat and desk require 4 square feet; and space in a class, at least 3 square feet per boy. But so far as space is concerned, the worst parts of most schools are the galleries or raised tiers of seats in which the infants are placed, as closely packed as flower-pots in a greenhouse."

The recent legislation on education, and the compulsory construction of new schools, with the enlargement of others, have greatly altered the aspects of the question. All public schools are now bound to have sufficient space, and properly constructed schoolrooms and offices. It is a question whether the actual cubic space, even in the best constructed schools, is sufficient, for it requires a perfect system of ventilation to keep the air sweet and pure. There are few schools in this country in which the air during classtime is not unpleasantly stuffy and disagreeable; and in a recent paper on school hygiène

(Fifth Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Massachusetts), we find that in

America the same defect is noticed, with some few exceptions. The principles on

which schools should be ventilated are considered under VENTILATION. Fig. 75 will, however, show the excellent system devised by Mr. Mott, by which a constant current of warm air is maintained, and the products of respiration, &c., are rapidly carried away up the shaft shown in the figure, while at the same time there is no perceptible draught.

School Offices.-The offices consist of (1) the staircase; (2) the cloak-room; (3) the latrines; (4) the lavatory.

The staircase should be spacious, well ventilated, and the banisters provided with obstacles at equal distances to prevent the children from sliding down the rail.

The cloak-room is a very important appendage. In some schools the clothes are put in an indiscriminate heap into a basket, or into a dark closet. The result of heaping together a mass of foul garments may easily be imagined. Zymotic disease is propagated, vermin engendered, and the clothes acquire a disagreeable odour. It is of the greatest importance that every school should have a proper place in which clothes may be separately hung up and orderly arranged.

The latrines. It is a false economy to be niggardly in expense with regard to the latrines. As each child, as a matter of fact, either from necessity or more often as an excuse, pays a visit during each school-time to the closet, this part of the establishment should be as perfect as possible. Water-closets do not appear to answer. The earth system for schools is probably the best, as the requisite attention can always be given. In any town, however, where the Liernur system of sewage removal may hereafter be in operation, the pneumatic privies will leave nothing to be desired. See SEWAGE.

The lavatory. There certainly should be a lavatory to every school, even to day-schools. This should, of course, have a plentiful supply of water for washing and drinking purposes, and especial care should be taken that the water is pure. Many of the poorer children really require to be taught practical cleanliness, which at their own homes is almost impossible.

The play-ground should have no unhealthy surroundings. It should be as ample as possible, and every facility given to gymnastic exercises, especially those of a light character. No gymnastic exercises, such as marching or drilling, should be allowed in the schoolroom, as clouds of dust are necessarily raised, which cannot fail to be injurious.

The hours of study in all elementary schools should not be too long. The experience of the half-time system, which is a name given to a method of schooling provided by law for

children employed in factories and workshops, and which secures to such children half the number of hours spent by children not at manual work in public schools, shows that these half-time scholars learn quite as much as the children who are in the same schools twice as many hours a day, and every prac tical teacher must know that a child who is in school six hours seldom really studies more than half that time. There cannot be a doubt that four hours a day is ample in elementary schools. More advanced and older scholars might study six without injury. All lessons should be learned in school, none taken out to be studied at home on any consideration.

2. School-Life, Influences of.-School-life is not without its evils. Even apart from those general insanitary conditions found in many schoolrooms, there are special influ ences which appear to exhaust themselves on the osseous and nervous systems principally. The third question of the State Board of Health bears upon this point, the question and summary of the answers were as follows:

'On the osseous system, between fifth and eighth year,' by

On the osseous system, before puberty,' by On the respiratory system,' by. On the respiratory system in boys,' by 'On the respiratory system after fifteenth year,' by

'On the digestive system,' by

'On the digestive system in boys,' by 'On the nervous system,' by

On the nervous system before fifteenth year,' by

On the nervous system after puberty,' by. 'On osseous and nervous systems,' by On osseous, respiratory, and nervous,' by 'On respiratory and nervous,' by 'On digestive and nervous,' by 'On neither system,' by Uncertain,' by

1

1

1

1

95

1

1

3

2

14

13

One of the most interesting answers was that of Dr. Buchanan, who says:

My attention has been directed for several years to the effects of position in schools upon the sp nal column. I was first induced to notice it in our high

school girls, from the fact that they could be pointed out from grammar-school girls of the same age by their awkward attitude and swinging step, and I was led to trace it to some cause satisfactory with theory, I found in the high-school that the desk was placed so far from the seat, in order that they might have room between seat and desk to stand during recitation, that they could not rest their books upen the desk without leaning forward to study, which fully accounted for the stooping and rounding of the spine and shoulders in six months after leaving the grammar school-which they did on an average at the age of twelve and a half years.