View report page

70
older group was 12 years and two and a half months. In the table the heights
and weights of the two groups ascertained in 1923, are compared with the pre-war
standards on the same points of the curve.
In making comparisons several pitfalls have to be avoided. It will be noticed
that the weights of the intermediate group are practically identical with those
of the previous standard, but the weight of the twelve-year olds are about a kilogram
above the previous standard. In this country children of a particular age
weighed in the autumn are heavier than children of identical age weighed in the
spring. Children grow fat in the autumn and grow thin in the spring. The
difference in the weights is therefore likely to be due merely to a seasonal variation.
On the other hand, both groups of children show an increase in height when compared
with the standard, amounting to between one and two centimetres. Tha
difference is most marked in the eight-year old group. Without laying undue
stress on these results it nevertheless appears that there has been a slight improvement
in physique as shown by physical measurements. That the height attained
by a given generation can be affected by the conditions under which childhood is
passed is well known to physicians. The condition known as rickets profoundly
modifies growth and when widely prevalent this disease undoubtedly leads to much
dwarfing. As all are agreed that rickets is much less prevalent now in London
than it was, it would not be surprising to find an improvement in the height of the
children affecting the eight-year old children, rather more than the twelve-year
old children owing to this factor alone.
As the following table shows, the average physical measurements of children
in schools for the mentally defective fall very much below those of normal children.
Thus do physical and mental degeneration go hand in hand. The heights are shown
in centimetres and the weights in kilograms and are based on information obtained
in 1923.
Type of child.
8-year-old group.
12-year-old group.
Boys.
Girls.
Boys.
Girls.
Height. |
Weight.
Height.
Weight.
Height.
j Weight.
Height.
Weight.
Normal 119.15 22.58 119.0 21.94 138.63 32.65 140.68 33.04
Mentally Defective 116.0 21.8 116.2 21.8 134.9 30.27 134.2 29.72
Cleanliness.
The devoted work of the school nursing staff, supported everywhere by the
influence of the head teachers, has literally revolutionised the standard of personal
cleanliness attained by elementary school children in London. Year by year
steady pressure maintained in this respect has brought about continuous improvement.
Last year it was noted that the proportion of older girls with hair completely
free from all traces of verminous infestation had for the first time reached
the 80 per cent. level. This year the improvement has continued so that 82.5 per
cent. of older girls were found in this desirable condition.
It is worth while setting out the figures of this progressive improvement. When
doctors and nurses first began to visit the elementary schools in 1902 and the
succeeding years the conditions found were indescribable. In many schools
scarcely a girl was free from infestation, and vermin could be seen dropping from
the heads of the older girls as they stooped over their lessons. In 1913 already
a considerable amount of personal hygiene instruction and energetic action by the
school medical staff had effected great improvement. But in that year, which was
the first year in which comparative figures based upon complete medical surveys
in the schools were obtained, only 67.2 per cent. of the older girls were free from
verminous heads. In 1914 the figure was 68.8 per cent., in 1915, 72.6. In 1916
and 1917 the percentage was 70.8 and 70.2. These of course, were very difficult
years when many of the experienced officers were on war service. In 1918 the