The use of shower baths in schools in England and on the Continent : a paper read before the Medical Officers of Schools Association, June 14, 1906 / by Frederick Rose ; issued by the Medical Officers of Schools Association.

  • Rose, Frederick.
Date:
1906
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The use of shower baths in schools in England and on the Continent : a paper read before the Medical Officers of Schools Association, June 14, 1906 / by Frederick Rose ; issued by the Medical Officers of Schools Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    was only 60 per cent, in the poorer districts, so that in the following four years it has risen by 30 per cent. Mannheim.—All elementary schools, with the exception of four older ones, have been provided with shower baths, and the authorities show the greatest zeal in promoting the use of shower baths amongst school children. At the begin¬ ning of every school term a long notice is inserted in the principal papers on several successive days calling the attention of the parents to the advantages of shower baths. Not content with this, the authorities despatch some 30,000 circulars, with the same notice, to the parents and guardians of children. This action has raised the number of baths given from 242,000 in 1904 to 431,000 in 1905. The system of shower baths in Germany seems to have originated in Mannheim, some eight years before Gottingen, which is popu¬ larly supposed to have been the pioneer of the movement in Germany. €©I@giie.—At Cologne a large number of elementary schools are fitted with shower baths, and during the last three years an average of over 200,000 shower baths per year has been given. The shower baths in the new schools have been installed regardless of expense. Bremen.—All the newer elementary schools of Bremen (11 in number) are provided with shower baths. The last school built has been provided with installation capable of washing 70 children at a time. From four to five hundred baths are given in every school per week, amounting to a total of about 40,000 baths per annum for each school. At Wiesbaden all the schools are provided with shower baths ; at Hanover, nearly all schools ; at Carlsruhe, nearly all schools') at Halle, all except four old ones, and so forth. I forbear, Gentlemen, to trouble you with any further details concerning individual German towns, as the shower bath system has been practically established all over the Empire. The shower baths are completely free, and no compulsion is used. Children of tender years are excluded, and no charge whatever is made for the baths. In a great many cases soap, towels, bathing garments, and brushes are pro¬ vided free. The bathing takes place during school hours, the principal work being performed by the school attendants, the duty of the teachers being merely that of maintaining discipline. The installations generally consist of a dressing-