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140
desirability of seeking expert opinion and advice, and I do not seeany
way of obtaining this but by enlisting the services of an oculist,
for there are far too many to be attended in the ordinary way as
hospital out-patients.
If such opinion were sought, there is no doubt but that, in a
large proportion of cases, spectacles would be prescribed, and if
these are to be provided, some means of helping the poor to obtain
them would need consideration.
TUBERCULOSIS.
Undoubted evidence of Tubercular Disease in joints, glands, or
bones was found in only l-24 per cent, in case of infants, and less
than 1 per cent, in the elder children. Phthisis was found in only a
half per cent, of the elder children and not at all among the
infants.
MENTALLY DEFECTIVE.
It appears that a dozen of such cases were discovered during
the course of inspection.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Of such diseases as Ringworm and Impetigo it is satisfactory
to note that they were less than 1 per cent, among the infants, and
there do not appear to have been any at all among the elder children.
This is, in my opinion, largely due to the vigilance of the teachers,
who are ever on the alert to detect such cases; and which, when
found, they always send to me at the Town Hall, where I see
children so sent every morning at 10 a.m., and exclude* them from
school until I consider they are no longer contagious. In this way
during the year ending December 31st, 1908, I have dealt with 214
cases of Ringworm and 382 cases of Impetigo, Eczema, &c.
It is but fair to state that a large number of the Ringworm
cases are simple ones, limited to the body, which are easily cured,,
and return to school in a week or two.
* Form used, see Appendix, page 152.