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17
the year were brought to the consultations and that the
great majority attended regularly is satisfactory proof of
the appreciation by Fulham mothers of the work of
the School.
Arrangements have now been made for securing the
continued attendance of the children at the consultations
until they enter school and for the treatment of certain
ailments from which they are found to be suffering.
Under this scheme, 163 children were examined on an
average twice during the year by the doctors, and of
these 28 received the necessary dental treatment at the
Dental Department of the Fulham School Treatment
Centre, and 19 were operated on at the same Institution
for enlarged tonsils and adenoids, the fees of the
operating doctors and dentists being paid by the Committee.
The scheme, so far as it has gone, has been
successful, and there is undoubted need for its further
development, so that all the babies who have attended
the consultations shall be kept under regular medical
supervision, since medical inspection has brought to
light all over the country the wide-spread suffering of
young children. Many of the defects and ailments
which beset the entrants to our elementary schools
could with proper handling be prevented or remedied
long before they reach 5 years of age. To bridge the
gap between infancy and school age in the care of
children is a pressing need, and one which Schools for
Mothers seem particularly suited to meet.
Ante-natal Clinic.
In previous reports attention has been called to the
fact that the decline of recent years in infant mortality
has been mainly confined to the ages over one month, and
that there has been comparatively but little diminution
in the deaths among infants in the first month of life.
These deaths have been called non-preventable, as being
due to ante-natal causes, but if more attention were
paid to the health of the mother during pregnancy,
many of these deaths might be prevented, and the