View report page

272
moment, but they serve as pointers to unhealthy conditions elsewhere,
and may become the nidus of Tubercular infection.
The influence of school work on eyesight is shown by the higher
figures for the Leaver group, and if these figures are contrasted with
those for secondary school children, it is seen that the latter are even
less favourable. This is not the actual amount of defective vision,
as children whose vision is normal by the aid of spectacles are
classified as having normal vision.
There is no doubt that school work does lead to a breakdown
of normal vision in a fairly high proportion of school children.
This may be due to breakdown of inherently weak accomm0dation,
or to the overtaxing of accomm0dation by incorrect postures when
reading and writing. The tendency of children, unless corrected,
is to sit with their eyes too close to the paper when writing or
reading.
The number of children suffering from circulatory defects is
high, and is mainly caused by the ravages of rheumatism upon the
heart and its valves. This is one of the disabilities of childho0d
against which no effective preventive measure has yet been found,
although much more is now done to compensate the disability when
once it has arisen.
The incidence of various defects on the different age groups is
an instructive finding. There is a steady rise in those defects which
might arise from educational stress, and a steady fall in defects
readily amenable to measures operated under the School Medical
Services.
The following Table was compiled from the findings at routine
medical inspections, in order to ascertain the amount of visual defect
in the particular children examined in the various schools. It
relates only to children who were referred from routine medical
inspections for treatment or observation and who were consequently
thought to be in need of spectacles.