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202
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1912.
data from which any indication can be obtained as to the effect of school life and conditions upon the
vision of the child.
A private investigation of this nature was made and published in 1908 by Mr. Bishop Harman,
and some of the findings were incorporated in the Report of the medical officer (Education), 1908, p. 57.
The cases collected were those attending the out-patient departments of two hospitals, and numbered
1,100 children ; all these children were patients attending the hospitals on their own or their parents'
initiative, and not transferred under a scheme worked by the Council. In this point there is a difference
between these cases and those which form the basis of the new enquiry.
The present enquiry has been made by Mr. Harman from the records of the treatment centre established
at the Belgrave Hospital for Children in the Clapham-road, S.W. This centre has been working
since 24th January, 1910. From that date until December, 1912, the cases entered therefor eye treatment
numbered 1,907, and of these 1,721 have been discharged as completed and are available for classification.
The case papers have been examined and classified according to sex, age, and the condition of the eyes.
The work of the centre has varied to some extent during the three years of its existence. During
the first two years or 23 months, there were two sessions weekly, with an average attendance of 7 new
and 8 old cases. During the last year there was one session only each week with an average attendance
of 11*3 new and 26 old cases each session. During the last period an officer of the Council has been
in regular attendance at the hospital to arrange a regular supply of children and to secure their return
for the completion of treatment. The value of this arrangement has been thoroughly proved.
Since the character of the school population varies considerably according to location and social
status, it will be well to state that the children seen at the Belgrave hospital are, with rare exceptions,
British and natives of London. Socially they are the children of a fair average class of workers
—artisans, transport workers, and motor drivers being predominant. Some of the children of the
extremely poor are included, but they are so few as not to affect the character of the returns. The
neighbourhood is open and healthy.
The following table sets out the complete returns of 1,670 of the 1,721 cases examined. The
balance of 51 cases is omitted from the returns since the children made no effective attendance for complete
treatment. These 51 cases form a wastage of 3"01 per cent.
Ages. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Boys. Girls. Totals
B.G. B. G. B.G. B. G. B. G. B. G. B. G. B. CTK G. B. G.IB. G.
Superficial diseases 5 8 8 19 18 6 7 14 7 1 93
7 5 6 11 11 6 9 16 20 8 1 100 193
Injuries 2 2 1 5
2 1 3 8
Congenital syphilis 11 2 1 7
1 1 2 2 9
Congenital defects 2 2 3 2 15
2 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 13 28
Ophthalmia neona- 1 12
torum 1 1 2 4
Retinitis pigmentosa 1 1
111 3 4
Habit spasm 1111 4
Squint* 6 9 13 19 6 16 3 4 8 2 1 (87)
5 24 18 13 13 10 5 10 11 2 1 (112) (199)
Emmetropia 3 5 3 7 3 1 22
2 2 6 3 1 22 44
Hypermetropia 4 10 14 23 34 22 9 17 19 9 1 162
3 11 14 16 22 22 21 48 17 11 2 187 349
Hypermetropic astig- 2 2 5 21 56 34 30 26 45 17 3 240
matism 2 9 12 27 53 23 34 53 55 31 6 305 545
Mixed astigmatism 1 12 3 9 14 14 2 55
3 9 3 2 6 22 10 55 110
Myopia 9 12 7 24 16 16 5 89
3 3 7 5 18 17 19 6 78 167
Myopic astigmatism 3 1 7 4 5 22 23 6 4 75
1 1 3 4 9 17 32 20 10 5 102 177
Odd eyes 12 113 1 2 11
1 4 2 4 2 4 17 28
Sex totals—Boys 12 22 33 70 148 88 70 112 132 72 20 771
Girls 12 28 35 64 117 74 94 188 157 98 22 889 1,670
Age totals 24 50 68 134 265 162 164 289 300 170 42
* Not to be added in the totals as they are also entered under their refraction errors.