View report page

Report of the County Medical Officer—Education. 121
Diagram B. Case 1.—B.W. Girl. Age 13. St. VII.— Bright and intelligent girl. Reverses
both words and figures with left hand. Figures 2 to 9 all reversed and written from right
to left. Cannot read reversed word (i.e. word written and then blotted). Can write correctly
with left hand when set to do so.
Case 2.—W.S. Boy. Age 13. St. IV.—Words reversed. Figures 2 to 7 written left to
right the only ones reversed being 4 and 6.
Case 3.—A.P. Girl. Age 7. St. I.—Words reversed but figures correct.
Case 4.—L.P. Girl. Age 7. St. I.—Dull and backward. Very short time at school.
Partial paralysis right arm and hand. Cannot write with right hand. Reverses with left.
Case 5.—A.S. Boy. Age 10. St. III.—Reverses words. Figures 2 to 7 reversed except
4, 5 and 7, and written in order from right to left.
Case 6.—F.C. Girl. Age 7. St. I.— Words reversed. Figures 2, 4 and 5 reversed and
written from left to right. Cannot read reversed word. Cbpies word correctly with left hand but
initial letter (word London) L is reversed.
Ear disease and hearing.—Diseases or defects of the ear were reported in 4,724 cases (2*4 per
cent, of the children examined) and 2,442 (1.2 per cent.) were referred for treatment. Otorrhea,
otitis and deafness due to obstruction from cerumen are included in this class. Ear disease was
slightly more prevalent among girls, and the highest incidence (2.6 per cent.) was amongst entrants.
In Hampstead, Islington, and Shoreditch 551 cases were noted, 328 severe enough to need treatment,
389 of the cases in these Boroughs were cases of otorrhea and 46 were cases of otitis, the
remaining 116 cases were probably principally cases of obstruction of the auditory meatus. The
special attention of teachers was drawn to the necessity of reporting at once any case of suppurating
ears coming to their knowledge so that treatment might at once be obtained. - There is some
difficulty in cases of ear discharge in getting the parents to persevere in taking the children for
treatment. The disease in its chronic state is so protracted that the parents lose heart, and too
frequently the children are allowed to lapse into a deplorable condition. The Council at the
present time has under consideration the question as to the possibility of taking further steps in the
direction of improving and facilitating the treatment of discharging ears.
Dr. C. J. Thomas has made the following analysis of the results of following up 500 consecutive
cases of discharging ears—

(Of the children whose condition had not been found satisfactory at the first re-inspection
67 had been re-inspected a second time at a later date (six to nine months after the primary
re-inspection) ; of these 45 had received attention and 22 were cured; 16 were still under treatment,
and 7 were still unsatisfactory; 22 had still received no further attention, and of these 19 were
still suffering ; while in three the discharge had spontaneously stopped.)
With regard to the two deaths, one of the children is reported to have died of "ear and
brain trouble," and the other of "abscess of the brain" Inquiries were made in regard to 103 of
the cases reported as not having received treatment, and the following tabular statement compiled
from the replies is exceedingly interesting as giving a picture of the difficulties to be
overcome and the work to be performed in getting the necessary attention paid to children
suffering from this and other ailments. It will be seen that 25 children had, in point of fact,
received some kind of treatment, but that the school doctor had not been informed of this, while
apart from these cases in which treatment had not been able to effect a cure, the chief causes of
23610 R