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that such a child never completely recovers—there must always be a residual
disability. In this somewhat gloomy picture there is the bright side—that you have
made provision for a large number of special children at your Special School, and
because this is so, these special children do get care and attention which would
not otherwise be practicable. I do, however, feel that here we have a problem which
illustrates very fully the advantage of a Residential Open-Air School over a Day
Open-Air School, because amongst other things these children should be under
constant professional supervision, and wherever necessary accurate four-hourly
temperature charts should be taken, and the child confined at times to bed in an
atmosphere that does not suggest invalidity. I also trust the time will come when
Rheumatic Fever will be looked upon for what it is, that is, an infectious disease
capable of producing serious after-effects, and the more serious cases will be dealt
with in your own Hospital.
(j) Tuberculosis.—The appropriate Authority for the treatment of Tuberculosis
is the Essex County Council. Their Tuberculosis Officer attends at the Chest
Clinic, Linton Road, Barking.
(k) Other Defects and Diseases.—As you will see from the tables, very full use
is made of the Clinics you have established and children who present themselves,
who do not come within their purview, are referred to local practitioners or a
suitable hospital out-patient department.
Ultra-Violet Light Treatment.—The treatment of children by ultra-violet
light comes down to us as you know from the times of the ancient Greeks, who no
doubt learned they needed it from early age. Since these days the introduction of
lamps such as the mercury lamp enables us to graduate our doses with greater
accuracy than heretofore, so that we are able to avoid that over-exposure, which
is just as detrimental as too little ultra-violet light.
A new lamp combining ultra-violet light with infra-red rays was installed at
the Faircross Clinic in April of 1935. Up to the present time we have carried out
this work by giving individual doses to separate children and not on the group
system, which whilst it enables a number of cases to be undertaken at the same
time cannot possibly give the desirable individual treatment to each child.
Although the apparatus we have is satisfactory the accommodation for this work
is poor and tends to decrease the usefulness of this work. I know you have this
matter at present before you and trust it will not be long before you provide
alternative and more suitable accommodation.