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295
perform this action by as much as six or twelve inches. The child
will complain of pain in the muscles above the knees, and the
hamstring muscles at the back of the thighs will be found, on
the child's bending forwards, to be shorter than normal and
tightly stretched. This condition of short hamstring muscles
occurs in rapidly growing children, where the rate of growth of
the thigh bone has outstripped that of the muscles, it usually
becomes compensated in a year or so, but it accounts for a
number of cases referred as suspected juvenile rheumatism.
Difficult and severe cases have been referred to the OutPatients'
Department at Croydon General Hospital, where Dr.
Preston, as in previous years, has very kindly given his assistance
and advice.
The statistics of the work accomplished have been drawn up
on the same lines as those in previous reports, so that a comparison
can be readily obtained.
The total number of children whose names were on the "live"
register at the end of 1937 was 614.

Age when Examined—
Ages 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Primary 19 30 10 12 25 18 13 15 12 2 -
Re-examinations 3 26 32 34 46 58 79 55 94 40 1