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130
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1910.
another 130 had mothers who went out to work in order to supplement the earnings of the lather.
Approximately one-third of the children in this neighbourhood are supported by female labour. With
the mother at work the children rapidly become neglected, the boys get out of control, they learn to
play truant, to sleep out, and become known to the police while they are still in the junior mixed
department. The maintenance of the home, the cooking and catering is done by an elder girl, who
sometimes may not be more than ten years of age. The mother's earnings provide bread and tea for
the family and pay the rent, but leave nothing over for clothing or boots. Many of the boys obtain
employment out of school hours, for which they are paid and for which they may receive food; others
learn to hang about the gasworks and similar places and get scraps of food and halfpence from the
workmen. In consequence they may appear to be better nourished than the girls, who work beyond
their strength at domestic work, step cleaning, baby minding, or carrying laundry bundles and running
errands. For this labour they receive no remuneration since it is done for the family. It is not uncommon
to find girls of ten doing a day's hard work outside their school work, they are the slaves of
their mothers and grandmothers.
There is a great difference between the physique of girls attending the Oxford-gardens school
and those attending the Edinburgh-road school. In the former the development and deportment of
the girls are excellent, but their leisure is spent in a recreative way on themselves, out of doors, taking
music lessons, reading novels, while the girls at the latter are underfed and overworked from an early
age. At this school there has been a definite inprovement in the girls during the last year, owing to
the civilising efforts of the head-mistress. When medical treatment is recommended, the parents of
the poorer class do not seem inclined to exert themselves to get it for the children. By personal
effort some of the care committees have overcome all obstacles, and have succeeded in having the
children attended to, but in chronic cases which require to attend hospital for long periods, and for
quite young children, the difficulties are almost insuperable.
Oil and Milk.—During the winter of 1909-10 Dr. Hawkes called attention to the children of
one school in Bethnal Green. Most of them belonged to large families dwelling in small houses, in
almost chronic destitution, the mothers often being the bread-winners and the fathers out of work.
The food, generally being judged by quantity rather than quality, is usually insufficient. The impression
gained of the children was that they were of poor nutrition ; this was fully confirmed at the
medical inspection. Their measurements were below the average for London, their clothing generally
insufficient. The school doctor reported that it was not hospital treatment but feeding that was
wanted. The surgeons at the Queen's Hospital had refused operation in many adenoid cases on account
of the low state of the children's health. In many evident tubercular disease held a considerable place
both in the personal and family histories.
At the medical inspection a list was recommended to the School Care Committee as suitable for
extra meals of milk and cod liver oil. The doctor marked the cards of those whose health he thought
imperilled ; 24 of the 57 boys and 61 of the 109 girls were so recommended. Of these tubercle was
suspected in 12 boys and 26 girls. A teaspoonful of cod liver oil in a cupful of warm milk was given
during the forenoon interval. Very few children showed repugnance, most of them actually enjoyed it.

Almost all cases showed improvement, only three boys and six girls remaining in statu quo.
Many showed improvement which was difficult to express on the cards, in that they showed more
signs of alertness and activity, the faces were brighter and clearer, they held themselves more erect,
but still many remained very anæmic, and this possibly is intimately related to housing and particularly
small and badly ventilated sleeping rooms. When undressed, the improvement was still
more marked in skin texture, the coarse rough quality improving. One boy who had been seen
frequently with sores and pustules and bad eyes improved so that the skin became fresh and whole.
A much greater improvement was noted in the cases where adenoids had been operated on than in those
which had been left untreated; this despite the fact that children often lose weight for a few weeks
after such operations. Cases with definite valvular disease did not markedly improve although those
with functional murmurs cleared up most evidently. The five girls and four boys who showed signs
of tubercle are mostly responsible for those marked as in statu quo. The actual numbers followed
were too small to construct reliable curves of growth, especially as the times of feeding on oil and milk
had varied. The gain in height and weight for both girls and boys was in excess of that determined
some years ago as standards for London schools. Educationally the teachers noted improvement.
The head mistress of the infants' department stated that prior to treatment many who were listless
and with little power of sustaining attention gradually brightened and became more interested. The
health gained and showed an attendance higher than that for previous years. The same result is