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32
METHODS FOR DEALING WITH BLIND, DEAF,
MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN
UNDER THE ACTS OF 1893 and 1899.
There are three special schools in the district, one for
physically and two for mentally defective children. Two Medical
Officers have been appointed, but their relationship to the School
Medical Officer has not yet been determined. There is need for
this work being co-ordinated with the rest of the work relating
to school hygiene, and I venture to hope the Education Committee
will give this question their early attention.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS.
Dr. Thomas Smurthwaite has carried out at Chamberlayne
Wood Road School a series of anthropological investigations, with
the results of which he has kindly furnished me, together with
copious notes, reports, diagrams, and photographs.
I can only summarise the results, which are a valuable instalment
of a survey which, could it be carried out so as to be representative
of all the school children in the district, would form an
interesting contribution to our knowledge of the physical characteristics
which are so important an element in the health of our
population.
Dr. Smurthwaite is an enthusiastic and well-known worker
in Anthropology, and I merely reproduce in condensed form the
methods and results of his investigation.
In the diagram are shown the different shapes of head and
face on which the classification into six racial types is based, and
the brief description below renders their identification easy.
LONG-HEADED TYPES.
Irerian.—The Iberian facial contour is oval, egg-shaped, or
somewhat lozenge-shaped ; the contour of skull oval.
Teutonic.—The Teutonic facial contour is oblong, or kev-stone
shaped ; the skull contour oblong.