London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
64
Examinations at the Head office.—There are many appeals from the examinations which
About 1,700 cards nave been analysed, and the cases, which are about 4 per cent, of all submitted for medical examination with a view to special educational treatment, have been disposed of as follows :—
| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Numbers of children examined | 833 | 839 | 1,672 |
| Fit for elementary school under certain conditions. | |||
| Visual defects | 77 | 118 | 195 |
| Aural defects | 22 | 30 | 52 |
| Other defects | 18 | 36 | 54 |
| Unfit for elementary school. | |||
| Invalids— | |||
| Visual | 46 | 93 | 139 |
| 2 | 11 | 13 | |
| Other defects | 20 | 23 | 43 |
| Visual defects (Blind schools)— | |||
| Blind | 114 | 136 | 350 |
| Partial vision | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| High myopia | 14 | 37 | 51 |
| Aural defects (Deaf schools)— | |||
| Total deafness | 60 | 67 | 127 |
| Partial deafness | 72 | 65 | 137 |
| Partial deafness, not noted | 81 | 74 | 155 |
| Word deafness | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Physical defects | 38 | 9 | 47 |
| Epileptics | 30 | 13 | 43 |
| Mentally defective | 68 | 38 | 106 |
| Imbecile | 20 | 8 | 28 |
| Gombined defects— | |||
| Mental and deaf | 33 | 21 | 54 |
| Mental and blind | 20 | 17 | 37 |
| Deaf and blind | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Triple defects | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| Residential (custodial) | 88 | 24 | 112 |
Under the heading of combined defects cases only are included where two or more defects come
in to such an extent that the educational disposal of the child is affected. Inherited syphilis plays a
considerable part in these cases. Such cases were headed as :—
Boy 10—Interstitial keratitis, nearly blind, very deaf, and with arthritis of knee joints.
Boy 11—Mentally defective, epileptic, corneal nebulae, semiblind.
Girl 8—Interstitial keratitis, nearly blind, quite deaf, supposed also mentally defective.
Girl 8—Very deaf, very blind, unsteady on feet.
Girl 12—One eye, deformities, great weakness of muscles, deaf.
Girl 5—Corneal nebulae, deaf, mentally defect, pareses from old hemiplegia.
Girl 7—Deaf mute, paralysed in left hand.
Girl 6—No hearing, practically blind, hip disease and crutches.
Boy 11—Blind from optic atrophy, very deaf, with chronic rhinitis, some paresis, mind almost a blank.
A considerable proportion presented other defeets than the main one considered, which however
did not actually affect educational treatment; thus in the 555 children with aural defects as the chief
point, there were 72 who presented visual defects in interstitial keratitis, choroiditis, conjunctivitis
blepharitis, corneal ulcers, opacities or leucomata, and in no less than five only one eye remained.
The combination of deafmutism with imbecility appears frequently among aliens from Russia.
One particular family was noteworthy, as the parents were Jews and cousins, and three cousins in
Russia were deafmutes; and of their own children two were deaf, one was an imbecile cripple at Darenth,
and the one presented was a girl of six who was mentally defective and deaf.