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16
I want to make it perfectly clear that enlarged tonsils (these
are glands at the back of the throat) and enlarged adenoids (i.e.
an overgrowth of a loose tissue at the back of the nose) are not in
themselves looked upon as warranting surgical interference. The
Board of Education has very wisely unified our views on the
subject by explaining very carefully the conditions under which
surgical interference should be recommended, and, avoiding all
technicalities, it may be said that these conditions virtually mean
the tonsiL and adenoids should only be taken out if and when these
structures are definitely interfering with the growth and development
of the child and/or are so diseased as definitely to interfere
with the health of the child.
One thing learnt in our Infant Clinics is that the problem of
health amongst young children is essentially a problem of right
feeding, and I feel sure when we have mastered the principles of
right feeding amongst children the surgical treatment of tonsils
and adenoids will be considered a definite indication of the ignorance
of the age in which we live.
A technical discussion on this point would be out of place,
but I will go so far as to say that we are reasonably assured that
development of the type of tissue found in tonsils and adenoids
is due to a diet in which there is an excess of starch, or at least an
amount of starch in excess of the vitamin which is found in the
germ of wheat. It may seem a far cry-from the question of white
bread to the question of the prevention of tonsils and adenoids,
but I feel it will be only by means of an enquiry into the subject
from this standpoint that we shall do away with our present
necessary and necessarily barbaric methods of dealing with a common
ailment of children.
Although it is premature to express a considered opinion, it
does seem, not only from the statistics but from our general personal
observations, that defective tonsils and adenoids do not constitute
quite the same problem that they did even a few years ago, and I
am happy to be able to say that, although I am not prepared quite
to prove my words, I do believe that this is due to the work in our
Maternity and Child Welfare Clinics, where a considerable amount
of time is spent in teaching mothers the hygiene of the mouth and
of the nose, and in teaching mothers the value of right feeding.