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children examined as twelve.year olds in 1919 were those examined as eight.year olds in 1915, and the
differences found in the condition of these children should reflect the changes due to natural and artificial
causes affecting the health of the children throughout four important years of school life.
Cleanliness.
The boys who in 1915 presented a percentage of 88.4 clean heads, in 1919 presented a percentage
of 93.4. The girls who in 1915 presented 69.2 per cent. clean heads, present in 1919 74 per cent., in
each case a betterment amounting to 5 per cent. Cleanliness of body improved in the four years from
76.6 to 88.4 per cent. in the case of boys and in the case of girls from 77.6 to 89 per cent.
Teeth.
Boys with sound dentures were, in 1915, 45.9 per cent.; of the same boys in 1919, 55.1 per cent.
have sound teeth. Those with four or more decayed, in 1915, were 10.9 per cent.; this is reduced in
1919 to 5.2 per cent.
Nutrition
The girls who had good teeth in 1915 formed 46.6 per cent. of the whole; in 1919 they form
56.5 per cent. Those with four or more decayed in 1915 were 10.6; in 1919 they are 4.4 per cent.
The group of boys, 21.1 per cent. of whom had excellent nutrition in 1915, present in 1919 26.1 per
cent.
Girls similarly improved from 23.3 per cent. in 1915 to 27.7 per cent. in 1919.
On the other hand, among the boys, those with subnormal nutrition in 1915 were 9 per cent.,
which is reduced to 5.2 in 1919; while the girls with sub.normal nutrition are reduced in 1919 to 5 per
cent. from 7.7 in 1915.
Vision.
The boys with very poor vision were 18 per cent in 1915; the percentage has increased to 21.6
in 1919.
The girls, who had 19.6 per cent. classified as very poor in vision in 1915, have in 1919 22.7 per
cent.
Throat
conditions.
The percentages of boys and girls with enlarged tonsils in 1915 were 11.4 and 12.3. The same
boys and girls in 1919 show percentages 8.6 and 10.5 respectively.
Heart defect
and anaemia.
In 1915 there were 2.1 per cent. of the children with ear disease; in 1919 this has become 1.85.
There is an increase in the percentage of boys with heart defect from 3 per cent. in 1905 to 3.8 per
cent. in 1919; but there is a much greater increase in girls with the same condition, from 3.3 per cent.
in 1915 to 4.9 per cent. in 1919.
2.7 per cent. of the boys in 1915 were anaemic, and 3.4 per cent. of the girls; the percentages are
practically unchanged in each case in 1919.
Lung
Complaints.
Lung complaints also show little change. Boys with lung defects in 1915 show 3.2 per cent.;
in 1919 thev are the same. Girls in 1915 yield 3 per cent.: in 1919 only 2.8 per cent.
Deformities.
The boys, 1.8 per cent. of whom showed deformities (other than rickety) in 1915, show 1.9 per
cent. in 1919; but the girls, who in 1915 were identical with the boys in this respect (1.8 per cent.),
show an increase to 2.7 ner cent.
General.
While a marked improvement in general conditions, such as cleanliness and nutrition, is to be
noted in the same children after the lapse of four years, and there is a very distinct improvement in the
teeth and the condition of the throat and ears, there is a deterioration in the condition of the heart, a
deterioration in vision, and an increase in the amount of deformity present; the deterioration being in
all three cases greater in girls than in boys, and in one instance, deformity, being confined to the girls.
The causes of these unequally incident conditions have been discussed in this and former reports,
but their actual demonstration in the same group of children examined after the lapse of four years
lends emphasis to the warnings which have repeatedly been given that girls are not as healthily brought
up as boys are ; while the deterioration in vision suggests that much remains to be done in shielding the
children from dangers of eye strain during school life.
Special examinations.
A feature of the school medical work is the extraordinary growth of the number of children
presented for special examination apart from those examined in the prescribed age groups. In 1915
such special examinations numbered 47,806, and in 1918 they numbered 47,114; but in 1919 this number
was increased to no less than 68,498, being now equivalent in bulk to an extra age group. This mass of
work was unforeseen when the staff was originally fixed, and it throws a heavy strain upon the officers
of the department. It is a measure both of the growth of interest in the children's physical condition
and of the advances in arrangements made to improve that condition. In addition to children presented
by teachers, care committees and attendance officers, a large number of children are inspected in connection
with outbreaks of infectious disease, and a further large number in connection with schemes for
open.air education, including school camps, school journeys, open.air schools, and playground classes.
Nine thousand one hundred and sixty of these specially examined children suffered from skin
disease, 1,708 from external eye disease, and 1,931 from ear disease ; these are obvious conditions apparent
to non.medical observation. In the case of skin disease the numbers seen in this way were nearly three
times as great as those discovered at routine inspection. It may safely be concluded that a child with
gross and obvious defect can hardly now pass without being brought under medical supervision.
Medical examinations at juvenile unemployment educational centres.
During the month of May the medical examination of juveniles between 14 and 18 in receipt of
unemployment pay was undertaken by the school doctors. Examinations were held at 13 juvenile
unemployment educational centres.
In view of the bearing of the results upon work which will have to be done in connection with
continuation schools, a full description is desirable.
The results of the examinations are tabulated on the lines that the Board of Education have