The teaching of hygiene and temperance in primary schools has
for the last three years occupied the attention of the leaders of the medical profession, and a deputation headed by Sir Thomas Barlow, Sir Victor Horsley, and other distin- guished doctors and surgeons, representing the Committee formed in 1903 for the teaching of hygiene and temperance, the British Medical Association, the Advisory Board, and the International Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, lately waited on Mr. Birrell at the Board of Education. The Memorandum submitted urged: (1) the recasting of general science teaching so that the principles of hygiene and temperance could be embodied in the curriculum without constituting a new subject; (2) the teaching of hygiene and temperance in all Training Colleges and to all student teachers; (3) the inclusion of these subjects among those on which inspectors must report. Mr. Birrell, in the course of a sympathetic reply, expressed a strong general approval of the importance of teaching the teachers. If the Bill before Parliament providing for medical inspection of schools became law, the teachers would enjoy further facilities for instruction. In conclusion, Mr. Birrell said that the Board of Education looked to the medical profession for aid in this question, but he warned them not to be carried away by too high or enthusiastic notions.
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