WOOLLEN UNDERWEAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 34, 10 July 1939, Page 7

WOOLLEN UNDERWEAR

: O— —— EFFECT ON CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH IN FRENCH SCHOOLS The results of a remarkable series of observations, extending over two years, as to the influence of woollen underwear on the health of school children in Paris have been conveyed to the Society of Comparative Pathology of Franco. Flannel undergarments were issued to a proportion of children in different age groups at 12 selected kindergartens in the poorer districts of Paris and in certain rural schools for older children. The ages of the children in these experiments ranged from two to six years at the kindergartens and from six to 14 at the rural .schools. The children selected for the experiment were in general the more weakly and debilitated in the several groups. The remaining children who did not receive wool under.garments served as controls for the experiment. The effects of the wearing of wool (flannel) was determined primarily by comparing the average number of :lays* absence from school in the two groups. The results which are given for 1 individual ~ schools and then, summarised as a whole are as follows. Total number of children in the experiments Children with Wool UnderwearAverage days absent from , , . 5.98 school Children Without Wool Underwear—Average days absent from school 21. aS The health properties of wool, so "emarkably demonstrated by the recent experiments in, France are being closely investigated in Engla,nvl under the auspices of the International Wool Secretariat, at the London School of Hygiene.