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 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Year of birth | No. of children | Year of birth | No. of children |
|---|---|---|---|
*Including one doubtful case.
Both lists include two children whose history was not obtainable but whose eyes showed
evidence of effects of the disease.
Grouping cases of interstitial keratitis, optic atrophy and choroiditis, conditions which may
be associated with venereal disease, Mr. Harman's percentage in children examined before 1922
i s 40.32, compared with 25.69 in the Council's schools in 1931, and 17 in 1938. Of the 17 in 1938,
at least 7 have been ascribed to other causes. In that year only one child was blind from interstitial
keratitis compared with 13 in 1931.
Traumatism is a preventable cause of blindness in which there has been no decrease. In 1931,
the number blind from that cause was 3, and in 1938 it was 4. Three of the four were blind from
optic atrophy, two from head injuries in street accidents and the third by a fall from a window.
One only was blind from traumatism followed by sympathetic ophthalmia. The accident in this
case did not occur in London, nor was the child treated in London.
It should be noted that most of the figures given relate to children in the Council's schools
for the blind, numbers in which vary from month to month.
The total number of London children of school age in schools for the blind, whether under the
Council or other authorities, as given in official tables, was 216 in December, 1931, and 113 in
December, 1938. The total number of children in the Council's elementary schools was 610,101 in
1931 and 469,978 in 1938. In 1931 the ratio of blind children to the elementary school population
was thus 3.54 per 10,000 and in 1938 it was 2.40 per 10,000, a fall of approximately a third in the
seven years.
The following table shows the number of children notified by the education authority under section 2 (2) of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, as amended by the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927, during the year 1938 (the figures in brackets being those for the previous year):—
| (a) Feeble-minded— | Boys | Girls | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) Leavers | 245 | (269) | 196 | (210) |
| (2) Detrimental | 2 | (1) | — | (4) |
| (3) Special circumstances | 3 | (1) | 1 | (3) |
| (4) Ineducable | 23 | (27) | 19 | (23) |
| (b) Imbeciles | 48 | (51) | 27 | (49) |
| (c) Idiots | 3 | (5) | 3 | (4) |
| 1 | (2) | 1 | (-) | |
| 325 | (356) | 247 | (293) | |
| Total | 572 (649) | |||
Mental
Deficiency
Acts : cases
notified to
the local
authority
The chief officer of the mental hospitals department has furnished the following
return for the year 1938 on after-care of children formerly attending special
schools for the mentally defective, but whose names were not notified to the Mental
Hospitals Committee as being cases in which the Education Committee were of
opinion that further aid in the form of supervision, guardianship or institutional
care under the Mental Deficiency Acts was necessary:—
After-careers