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 1936
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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72
Special inquiries and reports
Abstracts of special inquiries and reports will be found in their appropriate
sections. Attention may be directed to the reports by Dr. A. G. Wells on the
audiometer (p. 18), and the aural work (p. 28); by Dr. E. M. McVail on nursery
schools (p. 67); and by Dr. C. E. Thornton on rheumatism (p. 31).
Short accounts of special inquiries made by members of the staff during the
year will be found as follows: on the incidence of scabies by Dr. Francklyn and
Dr. W. E. Scott (p. 35); on posture in elementary schools by Dr. L. Batten (p. 49);
on studies in malnutrition by Dr. L. Batten and Dr. Elman (p. 21).
During the past two years a special inquiry into the incidence of certain rare
congenital conditions has been carried on in London by the school medical staff at
the request of the Medical Research Council. Of 48,000 children in the elevenyear-old
group during 1936, three were reported with congenital hip disease, one
with tylosis palmarum, two with atrichia, three with albinism, fifteen with hare lip
or cleft palate, three with transposition of the viscera, one with haemophilia, three
with microphthalmos, four with congenital cataract, one with ectopia lentis and
one with Friedreich's ataxia.
Medical
causes of
backwardness.
Drs. Williams and Morgan have conducted an inquiry into the medical causes
of backwardness. For this purpose 159 children, aged about 11, in the western area
of London, were investigated, all of whom had shown marked educational failure
as measured by bad results in the scholarship examination at that age.
In every case an assessment was made of the mental age, reading, calculation
and vocabulary age, and a performance test level briefly established. Each child
received a complete medical examination with special reference to the sense organs
and nervous system. An estimate of the child's stability or instability was made
from the psycho-physical standpoint.
The following table shows the distribution of the children in terms of their intelligence quotients, the average educational level and the incidence of unstable children. The high incidence of instability among the more intelligent children is noticeable. Table 39.—Summary of the 159 children
| Intelligence quotient | Sex | Mental age | Reading age | Calculation age | Number of children | Number of unstables |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over 100 per cent. | M. | 11.1 | 8.3 | 7.4 | 14 | 9 |
| 85—99 ,, | M. | 10.0 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 59 | 25 |
| F. | 9.8 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 15 | 9 | |
| 70—84 ,, | M. | 8.8 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 55 | 14 |
| F. | 8.9 | 8.7 | 7.1 | 11 | 4 | |
| Below 70 „ | M. | 7.3 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 4 | 0 |
| F. | 7.3 | 4.0 | 5.5 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | — | — | — | — | 159 | 61 |
It will be seen that in these children the educational level is not dependent
merely on intelligence, since 14 children had above average intelligence, and the
great majority had educational levels much below their intelligence. The medical
factors explaining this divergence were: (1) slight defects of vision, 9 children;
hearing, 5; nutrition, 3; poor general health, 10; nearly all of these were not
severe enough to excite comment in an ordinary routine examination; and (2)
physiological deviation from the normal (these have been placed under the heading
of instability).
In the majority of cases these factors were combined with some other, such
as poor intelligence, educational and social handicaps, to make a problem which
must be dealt with from several aspects.
Wage-earning employment of school children
In the year 1936, 3,954 applications (3,911 boys and 43 girls) were dealt with
under the by-laws for medical certificates in connection with the employment of