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23
Modern dressing makes it much easier to deal with the skin diseases than it
was twenty years ago. Twenty years ago I have seen children with skin diseases
of the face tied up in bandages which were very possibly disarranged before the
children had left the Clinic very long. Now with special adhesive dressings, it is
possible to cover these sore places in a satisfactory way, which means that the
children are much less likely to spread the contagion (if it be a contagion) and be a
source of trouble to other children as they were many years ago.
You will remember that during the war Scabies became quite prominent, and
that last year I was able to say the incidence of Scabies was definitely on the decline.
In my last report I said it was too early to " Halloa " until we were out of the wood,
but having regard to the fact that only no cases were known in 1947 I think we can
look upon the situation with some minor satisfaction.
Scabies, by the way, is caused by a mite which wanders on the surface of the
body very much like mites crawl over cheese. When I was a young man this mite
was called an acarus, but the people who deal with the classification of these little
mites have changed the name to sarcoptes scabiei. The wedding takes place on
the surface, the father wanders off, and the mother burrows away into the skin.
This does not cause much trouble, but she lays her eggs just under the surface of the
skin and when all the little sarcoptes scabiei begin to wiggle about, that is when the
skin begins to itch, and Scabies as you know itches quite a lot, so much so it has
been properly known as the " itch
NUTRITION.
Question:—Do you think as a result of the war and our post-war
difficulties, the nutrition of the children is being maintained?
Answer:—The answer to this is "Yes", but that does not mean to say we can
rest content.
A friend of mine who for many years lived in Canada in days which can almost
be looked upon as the pioneering days, and who was a very observant fellow, noted
how the people who came out from mid-Europe—themselves of stunted growth—had
fine, strapping, upstanding children, but if they had brought children out with
them to Canada those children did not profit much, except the very young ones,
whereas those born in the wide open spaces were upstanding, strong and healthy.
I am afraid we must accept the fact that there are differences in standards of
growth and development in different parts of Europe and, indeed, in different
parts of England, and I am convinced that as a matter of fact the children of
Barking are taller and heavier than children in less fortunate districts. Personally
I am of the opinion that further advances in the science of feeding can make
children yet unborn even taller and heavier than children of today.
There are, therefore, no grounds whatsoever for " resting on our laurels".