View report page

22
fleas, and indeed he protests against the assumption that it is possible for so clean an animal to be so
affected, save as the result of chance infection from a human being; the question, therefore, arises
whether a standard which obtains in the case of this animal should not constitute an ideal to be aimed
at in London elementary school children. This is the more to be desired if it should transpire that
the flea actually transmits disease from child to child.
One thing is clear, the demonstration of the association of veimin with the spread of infectious
disease has done more than had ever before been accomplished in arousing serious interest in what had
hitherto been regarded merely as an unpleasant subject. During the past year the fact that one London
elementary school girl in three is found, on surprise medical examination, to have nits in her hair, has
been repeatedly commented upon as being a condition of things for which a Temcdy must be found.
The spread of verminous conditions amongst soldiers and the dissemination throughout the country
of scabies have enforced the moral, and it is to be hoped therefore that the attempt to cope more
effectively with what is now recognised as a public danger will meet with general support.
The Results of Medical Inspection.
Owing to the demonstration that the cursory examination of entrant children was not giving
such satisfactory results as did the full examination in detail, the Council on 31st July, 1917, decided
to revert to the latter practice. During the first two terms of the year therefore the cursory examination
of entrants was still carried out, but those entrants falling due for examination in the third term
were examined in detail. The total number of children of all ages inspected during the year according
to the Board's schedule was 283,185; these comprised 30,492 entrants cursorily inspected, 55,012
entrants examined in detail, 34,487 boys and 33,715 girls examined in the intermediate age group,
34,260 boys and 34,158 girls examined in the leaver age group, 24,930 boys and 28,404 girls mainly outside
the age groups examined as urgent or special cases, and 1,727 children seen in their age groups in special
schools.
Number of
children
referred for
treatment.
Tho percentage of ohildren referred for treatment as a result of routine inspection was on the
whole higher than in the previous two years:—
Intermediate Age Group.
Leavers.
Boys,
Girls.
Boys.
Girls.
1915
34.2
40.2
38.7
40.5
1916
40.0
41.2
39.2
40.2
1917
44.0
44.7
41.8
43.0
Attendance
of parents at
the inspections.
The falling off in the attendance of parents at the inspections which was pointed out in 1915
has not proved a progressive feature. In 1915 a parent was present in 56 6 per cent. of the inspections,
in 1916 this fell a little further to 55.2, but in 1917 was raised again to 56.2. The parents are much more
interested in the examination of their children when entrants than at the older ages, and the percentage
of oases in which a parent was present at the inspection of entrants was 71 9. This is, of course, a very
strong argument for making the entrants' examination as full and comprehensive as possible.
Indiccs of
the effects of
economic
conditions.
1 he yearly individual examination of & quarter of a million children in London affords a measure
of the social condition of the people with which formerly there was nothing to compare. It has been
shown in.my recent-annual reports that important conclusions in relation to the effects of economic
conditions can be drawn from the classified figures relating to the condition of clothes and footgear,
cleanliness and nutrition. The Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education referred in his last
annual report, to the steady, unwavering, incontrovertible nature of these statistics. Very remarkable
are the figures relating to cleanliness :—
Cleanliness
Cleanliness or Head.
Cleanliness or Body.
Intermediate age
group.
Leavers.
Intermediate age
group.
Leavers.
Year.
Clean.
Nits.
Verminous
Clean.
Nits.
Verminous
Clean.
Nits.
Verminous
Clean.
Nits.
Verminous
Boys 1913 87.1 12.3 0.6 87.3 12.3 0.4 72.0 25.1 2.9 73.1 24.3 2.6
1914 86.9 12.6 0.5 88.5 11.2 0.3 75.3 22.9 1.8 75.1 23.0 1.9
1915 88.4 11.4 0.2 90.9 8.9 0.2 76.6 22.0 1.4 77.9 20.9 1.2
1916 89.2 10.6 0.2 90.6 9.2 0.2 79.3 19.7 1.0 79.2 19.8 1.0
1917 89.4 10.4 0.2 90.7 9.2 0.1 79.8 19.1 1.1 79.2 19.5 1.3
Girls 1913 67.3 30.3 2.4 67.2 30.4 2.4 73.7 24.2 2.1 74.8 23.1 2.1
1914 66.3 31.6 2.1 68.8 29.3 1.9 77.8 20.8 1.4 78.0 20.7 1.3
1915 69.2 29.4 1.4 72.6 26.2 1.2 77.6 21.4 1.0 80.7 18.5 0.8
1916 68.8 29.9 1.3 70.8 28.1 1.1 80.5 18.8 0.7 81.7 17.8 0.5
1917 68.8 | 29.9 1.3 70.2 28.7 1.1 80.9 18.3 0.8 81.7 17.6 0.7
The condition of the children in each age group has remained quite stationary as regards cleanliness
during 1917, the figures only varying by a slight fraction in any particular group or category.