View report page

234
increase as school age advances. The first group are largely the
aftermath of acute rheumatism, and with the prevention of the
latter would diminish much in importance. Defective Vision
seems to be directly due to conditions which commence to operate
when the eyes are used for more purposeful needs than is the case
in the earlier years of life. In quite a number of cases of defective
vision the cause underlying the failure of the eyes to stand up to the
conditions imposed on them can be traced to hereditary defect or to
malnutrition in early childhood. Other cases seem to breakdown
and need glasses when a period of intensive strain is undergone,
such as hard reading for examinations and insufficient relaxation
and sleep. A small number are caused by an attack of one of the
infectious diseases, usually Measles, and less often Diphtheria.
The correction of defective vision is a simple matter in the
majority of cases, but correction by lenses is not sufficient. The
cause for the breakdown should be sought out and. if possible,
corrected also.
The immunization of children against Diphtheria has been
continued in several of the residential schools in Croydon, and
it is interesting to note that no cases of Diphtheria has occurred
in those Schools. A localised outbreak took place in one of the
day Elementary Schools, and a meeting of parents was addressed
by a School Medical Officer, who put to them the advantages of
immunising their children. Although considerable interest was
manifested and many questions asked, the resultant number of
children put forward for immunisation was meagre. Diphtheria
has not been a menace during the year and has been kept in check
by careful supervision of contacts and judicious swabbing of
throats and noses, but our experience in the St. Olave's schools
has shown that diphtheria—a dangerous and insidious diseaseis
not necessary. It can be prevented, and, as a practical demonstration,
has been prevented in a self-contained community to all
the members of whom the process has been applied.
The report serves to show that much avoidable illness in
school children is due to ignorance of simple physiological
functions, and epidemics not seldom arise through a lack of
appreciation of the principles underlving honest citizenship, if
a child is fully instructed, before leaving school, in the principles
of personal and communal hvgiene it is certain that greater good
will be done thrn bv the elaboration of schemes of social and
Public Health reform which those for whom they are intended do
not understand the purport.