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their children and to receive treatment at the Health Centre, which
has grown in the estimation of the parents. The high percentage
of parents attending the inspection is indicative of the great interest
taken in the work.
The teachers are an immense help in the scheme of medical
inspection and treatment. On all occasions the teachers offer every
assistance and look upon medical inspection and treatment as part
of the educational machine. They recognise that the development
of the mind must go hand-in-hand with the cultivation of a healthy
body, the one being complementary to the other, and that as
teachers, they have almost as much responsibility with regard to
the one as with the other aspect of the development of the child.
In early life the teacher can inculcate healthy habits in the
receptive young mind and in the older children can instil the
general principles of hygiene in the course of the child's general
education. "The Handbook of Suggestions on Health Education"
just recently issued by the Board of Education, is an admirable
guide to the teacher and should be the means of effecting a proper
recognition in the minds of the young of the value of hygiene
in the prevention of ill-health and consequently of assisting in the
general improvement of the health of the community.
All teachers in the schools in the Borough are being supplied
with copies of this Handbook and the head-teachers are being asked
to submit their proposals for the carrying out of the suggestions
contained therein. In this way it is hoped that there will be some
uniformity in the adoption of the suggestions, and a sufficient
amount of time devoted to the instruction.
In the course of the year the School Dentist on the occasion
of his dental inspections of the schools gave to the children a short
lecture on the care of the teeth. These lectures were given to the
children in the upper schools, who were brought together in the
assembly hall for the purpose. The head-teachers enthusiastically
entered into the arrangement. The lectures, coming from an
experienced dental officer, are likely to be of value to the teachers
themselves in giving instruction to the children. To assist the
teachers in giving instruction in the care of the teeth the Education
Committee issued to them copies of the excellent booklet, “Hygiene
of the Mouth and Teeth," gratuitously supplied by the Dental
Board.