17 JUNE 1911, Page 3

The annual meeting of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society furnished

Mr. Bernard Shaw with an opportunity for express- ing his views on unnecessary washing. He himself, it appears, has not really washed himself, excepting his hands and face, almost since the time somebody else did it for him; and though be has got into the habit of taking a cold dip, that was not washing, but only a form of stimulant. Gloves were a necessity in London, where people bad to wash their faces every two hours. The secret of health and cleanliness were a clear atmosphere and clean clothes. With these "you will live as you do in the country, where you never wash at all, except as a sort of social ceremony to prove that you are well brought up." Mr. Shaw, though not an enthusiast of royalty, must have a certain sympathy for a certain King of Saxony, who said that he took a bath once a fortnight, whether he required it or not. But it is rather curious to find him in agreement on the question of washing with the great inoculator, Sir Almroth Wright. . •