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to be seriously ill-nourished was 100 in 1938 while in 1937 it was 107, giving exactly
the same proportion. Such close accordance in the two years is remarkable.
It is satisfactory to note that it is at the end of school life that the children are
best nourished.
The following are the measures by which it is sought in London to observe and
control the nutritional state of the children:—
(1) The general continuous oversight of the children in school by teachers, school doctors,
school nurses, and care committee workers.
(2) The weighing and measuring of all children at six-monthly intervals. This is carried
out by the school nurses, who bring before the school doctor all children who do not progress
normally.
(3) The feeding of necessitous children, including the giving oi milk twice a day, or codliver
oil, on the advice of the school doctors.
(4) The carrying out of special enquiries at certain schools.
(5) The reference for expert investigation at " nutrition centres " of every child whose condition
does not improve by ordinary school measures.
(6) The provision, for children who are under-nourished, of convalescence at country or
seaside open-air residential schools or convalescent homes.
(7) The investigation of home conditions by care committee workers, and their improvement
so far as possible by advice and help.
(8) The steady improvement of housing conditions intensively followed by the Council's
housing committee.
Nutrition
centres
Nutrition centres, which were first established in May, 1935, have continued to
perform an important function. They are essentially "further inspection" centres,
conducted by experienced physicians, to which school doctors refer children for
more detailed investigation than is possible at the routine inspections in the schools.
Two new centres were established during the year, one at Woolwich in June and
the other at Townsend Street School, Bermondsey, in December. The total number
of centres functioning at the end of the year was 14.

The usefulness of the centres is shown by the number of additional sessions
asked for in order to deal with the number of children who could not be dealt with
conveniently at the ordinary sessions.
Valuable reports have been submitted by the physicians in charge of the centres.
The careful and detailed investigations and the constructive work carried out at
the nutrition centres are illustrated in the following abstract of the report of Dr.
Elizabeth Gourlay at the Hoxton and Starcross Street centres on new cases:—