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6
GENERAL REVIEW OF FACTS DISCLOSED BY
MEDICAL INSPECTION.
Malnutrition.—Out of 2,622 children examined at the
routine inspection during the year, 234 were found to be suffering
from malnutrition. The chief causes of malnutrition are (1)
lack of sufficient food; (2) improper and indigestible food; (3)
unsuitable home conditions; (4) excessive employment out of
school hours; (5) illness and disease.
Clothing and Footwear.—Out of 2,622 children examined at
the routine inspection during the year, 40 were found to have
defective clothing and 69 to have defective footgear.
Uncleanliness.—Out of 2,622 children examined, 214 were
found to be unclean at the time of the routine inspection. Five
children had live lice in their heads, and 138 others had nits (or
eggs of lice), and 41 were found to be flea-bitten. During the
year, as the result of class-to-class inspection, the school nurses
Lave discovered 1,084 children who were unclean.
No child should pass through a school without learning one
of the most important lessons, namely, that of the value of
cleanliness; and this lesson is being taught both by the teachers
and by the school nurses. The number of children reported to
be dirty may appear considerable, but the general cleanliness
of the school child shows now a vast improvement on ten years
ago. To-day it is the adults more than the children who are
lousy and dirty. The children are kept clean in the schools,
and they are cleansed if necessary at the cleansing station,
but they go home to be re infected with vermin from adults
in the same house. Whenever we cleanse a child we offer
to disinfect its bedding and bedroom, out we have no power to
compel the verminous mother or elder sister to be clean. Despite
this great hindrance to our work, the extermination of the school
louse is slowly proceeding, and the children themselves are
properly impressed with the horror of bringing a louse to school.
Enlarged Tonsils and Adenoids.—Out of 2,622 children
examined at the routine inspection 407 were found to have
enlarged tonsils or adenoids or both of these conditions.