London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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147
Children in
blind and
deaf
residential
schools
whose
condition is
attributable
to venereal
disease.
The medical records of the children in the Council's residential schools for the blind and deaf have been examined with a view to ascertaining the number of cases whose defect was attributable to venereal disease. The total number of records examined was 298 (100 blind, 198 deaf), and the data obtained were as follows:—
| Defeet. | Venereal disease a reasonably certain antecedent. | Venereal disease a possible antecedent- | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congenital syphilis. | Ophthalmia neonatorum. | Congenital syphilis. | Ophthalmia neonatorum. | |||||
| Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | |
| Blind | 9 1 20 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Deaf | 3 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | |
Blind or deaf
children who
are also
mentally
defective.
The Association of Directors and Secretaries for Education have been informed in reply to enquiries that the numbers of children (other than imbeciles) who have shown mental deficiency combined with another defect during the past four years are as follows:—
| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentally defective and epileptic | 30 | 83 | |
| ,, ,,blind | 1 | 4 | |
| ,, ,, deaf | 26 | 28 | 54 |
| „ „ physically defective | 85 | 63 | 148 |
Dr. F. C.
Shrubsall'n
enquiry
concerning
Mongol*
During the year Dr. Shrubsall has collected data concerning mentally defectives
of the type known as Mongols. This type was so named from the superficial resemblance
of some of the sufferers to certain members of the Northern branches of the
Mongolian races of mankind; a resemblance which extends not only to certain facial
traits, but to the sitting posture with the legs crossed and the feet resting on the
thighs with the soles uppermost.
Mongols have small rounded heads, with flattened occiputs and faces, but full
foreheads. The nose is usually squat, the palpebral fissures narrow and oblique,
and the epicanthic fold is frequently present. Owing to the shortness of the palate
from the fold backwards, the tongue appears too large for the mouth, and the papillae
are often found to be enlarged; the palate is short but appears high and narrow
owing to the thickening of the mucous structures. Ears are small, skin rough, the
hands broad, with shortened little fingers and handmarkings of a simple pattern.
The circulation is usually poor, and congenital malformations of the heart are not
uncommon, while these children are very liable to suffer from catarrhs and adenoids.
Mongols are usually placid, good-tempered, fond of listening to music, though most
are undoubted imbeciles and capable of but very limited improvement; it is a
type in which an unduly optimistic prognosis is popularly given.
The subjoined table shows the mental and chronological ages of 322 mongols at the time of their examinations.
| Mental age. | Chronological age. | Total. | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | 6 | 1 | 1 | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 14 |
| 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 47 | 23 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | _ | _ | 1 | 98 |
| 3 | _ | — | 1 | _ | 1 | 47 | 36 | 25 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 148 |
| 4 | _ | _ | _ | 1 | __ | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 40 |
| 5 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 15 |
| 6 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | 1 | _ | - | 1 | 2 | - | _ | 4 |
| 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | - | — | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 105 | 67 | 36 | 17 | 26 | 17 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 322 |
It will be seen that the mental age rarely exceeds 5. Mongols are usually popular
in special schools, but only rarely do they make such progress as to justify their