CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACQUIRED IN SHAVING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1715, 21 November 1887, Page 3

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACQUIRED IN SHAVING

♦ A case waß recently, decided {n A Connty Court many serve as a caution to barbers and haJr-dresssrs, who ara iQ danger of forgetting their responsibilities In respect of contagions disease, while it •honld Instruct the public as to some obocore bat unavoidable rlika to which they are liable. A man who wbb In the btblt of being ihaved every Saturday evenIng at the modeat coat of three half-pence, was sensible on a certain Sunday of an unaccountable irritation m the skin of his face. He consulted a neighboring practitioner, who pronounced hifl trouble to be " parlsittc barbers' Itch. " One form of sycosis menti, ie will be remembered, Ii due to the presenoa of the parasite of ringworm, and, like other ca^e m whloh the seats of halr-gtowlh are affected by this troublesome pest is very intractable. This doubtless, was the character of the disease m question m the case before us; end the deoißion of the judge, which waa not arrived at without considerable hesitation, held that the barber was guilty of having infected his client by means of & dirty razor, brush, or towel. We confess that this judgment, la, to our mind, by no means a clear one. Of direct proof of culpable neglect on the barber's put there was none. At the sam 6 time no other possible source cf contagion Appears to have been suggested and certainly the facts that the face was the part affected, and that at the coal a oleanly renewal of shaving materials for eaob customer w»b well-nigh impossible, must lnveßt the verdiot with whatever support Is derivable from circumstantlil evidence. If therefore, ire grant that the material! need were net clean, to which of them ehould blame specially be attached? It seems to us fir lobs likely that the razor was accountable than that eiiher the soap or towel was so, the firat mentioned being so much more easily cleauead. With a view to the prevention of each accidents Jn the future, it seems, therefore, that all ibftffbera should follow the rule already .observed by the better class of that fraternity, and m place of using Boap m the block form, employ a soap cream, a little of which oan be set apart for each customer. The provision of separate towels and brushes m each case is at leaat equally desirable, even though it entail an extra halfpenny In the charge -»-"Jjancet."