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Xonbon County Council
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER (EDUCATION) FOR THE
YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1907.
The Fifth Annual Report on School Hygiene, under the Education Authority for London, finds
this subject in a very different position from what it was five years ago. It is recognised in other
countries than England as a highly specialised branch of Public Health, which the ordinary sanitarian
cannot be expected to follow in its fulness, and which requires officers experienced in the technique
and specially trained to, do justice to the children and to the public interests.
The great success of the recent International Congress for School Hygiene has undoubtedly
done something to stir us as a nation from the position into which we, owing to neglect, had slipped
The work followed in London during the past year has been directed mainly to the still unsettled
problems of the ordinary classroom. Enquiries have been begun among the older pupils, and also
some test examinations made of infants at admission. The value of last year's physical measurements
have been enhanced by the calculation of the limits of error, and by some theoretical explanations.
The physically defective children have all been gone over ; the subject of artificial lighting dealt with ;
and ventilation has been returned to, especially in its relation to fatigue ; on this some other experiments
are also given.
A point has now been reached, as to whether the greater part of the medical inspection shall
remain fruitless, or whether the Council shall take steps which will justify their later interference
to see that its younger dependents have a fair chance of properly benefiting by the education offered.
Treatment as a public concern will have to be considered in respect to certain educational matters,
such as visual troubles, discharging ears, ringworm, and the care of the teeth, in which neither the private
practitioner nor the hospitals can give any hope of either providing sufficient or satisfactory relief for
most of the cases requiring it.
EXAMINATION OP CANDIDATES.
Head, assistant and pupil teachers, training college students, scholarship candidates, instructors
and schoolkeepers employed in the schools are medically examined in this department before commencing
work. During the year nearly 8,000 medical examinations have taken place, viz.: —1,963 head and
assistant teachers, 1,563 pupil teachers, 3,676 scholarship candidates, 670 training college students,
104 instructors and schoolkeepers.
References.—In addition to the " First" examination 535 references have been dealt with ;
these relate to the health of employees already in the service of the Council who have been absent through
i lines?.
Special Schools Cases.—823 examinations have been made at this office owing to the fact
that all cases nominated for admission to residential schools are seen by me ; also cases referred
from local centres who require detailed examination, particularly in regard to hearing and vision ;
cases referred by magistrates and committees are also seen here.
Scholarship Candidates.—The examination of candidates for'scholarships^as resultedJn a
few being absolutely rejected, but a large proportion were referred back for medical or other treatment,
and ultimately passed. There is still a considerable number of children of very poor physique being
passed as scholars.

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