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104
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1911.
North Cross-road, Dulwich and St. Anthony's (R.C.) Lordship-lane, Dulwich. The normal average
being 55 boys gave 87.8 per cent, and 65 girls gave 88.9 per cent. At the opening of Birley House
the boys and girls gave 81 per cent., which by the thirty-sixth week had come up to 88 per cent. In
cases where there was a temporary fall this was ascribed either to the hot weather, or to teeth or
other operations. There is probably a seasonal variation in haemoglobin content of the blood. The
chest expansion on admission was boys 1.9 inches, girls 1.8 inches, at the thirty-sixth week boys
2 inches, girls 2.4 inches. In the case of some of the children this chest expansion was very poor, two
of the girls only giving half-an-inch, and several of the children 1 inch on admission.
The children at Shooter s-hill were of a similar type, but possibly even more anaemic than the
children at Birley House, as 73 per cent, of the admissions were below 75 per cent, by the haemoglobinator
test, whilst by the end of the year only 2 per cent, remained below this mark.
The conditions of the children admitted were noted as-
Tubercular disease of lungs 5
Doubtful tubercular pulmonary disease 5
Other lung and chest diseases 40
Otorrhcea 15
Enlarged tonsils 14
Adenoids 10
Cardiac diseases 5
Disease of the eyes 11
Enlarged glands (not obviously tubercle) 13
Tubercular glands 4
Chorea 1
Curvature of spine 5
Torticollis 1
General malnutrition 49
Probably the majority of these children were tubercular in the widest sense of the term, but only 14
were definitely assigned to this heading. Of these, 5 were cases of pulmonary tuberculosis ; they
increased in weight, were less anccmic, and gained in appearance of general health, but the lung condition
did not improve except in one case in which no traces of active lung disease could be detected
at the time of leaving school. The asthma cases seemed to have attacks just as frequently during
attendance at the open-air school as previously.
The great function of the onen-air school is its stimulating effect on the merelv debilitated
child, it also enlarges the mental outlook, the
child becomes happier and more interested in its
work, preferring the open air to the classroom,
and enjoying to the full this return to a more
natural life. This can, however, be discussed
later with the playground classes.
Several of the children have been attenders
at the open-air schools through successive years,
and Birley House has remained in session
through the wrinter, it is therefore possible now
to review the cards of some of these habitues of
the schools, who are obviously in very poor health
and see how they stand in comparison with other
or normal children.
From the cards of children at Shooter's-hill
the weights on admission and on closing the school
have been taken and averaged. Figure 1 shows
these weights for different groups of children who
have been in attendance 2, 3, or 4 successive years.
The numbers dealt with are quite low, but it
was only a few who were available for this statistical
comparison. In Figure 1, line A gives the
average weights for two boys of the same age
present for four successive years; B is the curve
for six boys of various ages who were present for
three succcessive years, and, C, the curves for
Figure 1. Shooters' Hill Open Air School, Weight
of groups of children attending successive years.