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by "other means," i.e., lotions and ointments, than ringworm
of the scalp, which is now generally treated by X-rays.
This latter form of treatment forms the most important and
responsible portion of the work, and I propose to go into
greater detaiil with regard to it for the information of the
Committee.
Each child is exposed once to the action of the
rays. About fifteen days after the exposure the hair
on the exposed areas begins to fall out, and tht
scalp is practically completely without hair at the
end of the third week. At the end of the fourth week the
scalp is quite smooth and bald, and the child is now free
from infection and may safely go back to school. The
hair begins to return about the sixth to the eighth week
and at the end of three months from exposure the scalp is
fairly well covered. Time does not permit more than three
children to be treated with X-rays on the same morning,
so the maximum number of children that can be treated in
one year is about 150. This number will not be reached
during the first year of the Clinic's work, for on the days
during the first few weeks that the centre was open
only one or two children were treated per week. This
c'aution was necessary lest an overdose might be given before
the workers became quite familiar with the apparatus. The
result was that several children had to have a second dose,
as the first proved insufficient. However, during January,
1914, in which there were five Saturdays, fourteen children
were successfully treated.
Again, some of the cases, especially those an which
there is, when first seen, only one patch of ringworm, are
not cured after a single exposure, because when they
reappear a month after the exposure, although the patch
which was originally treated is cured, in the meantime other
patches have become infected, so that after all the whole