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formity that the fact recorded is one not dependent upon the direct
observation of the Medical Officer; but while this is so it does
show that for the same kind of observation there is a very close
approximation of results in records which, if correctly noted
should so approximate. The same conclusion is suggested by
consideration of another result which is dependent upon the direct
observation of the examining officer, namely, that of the relative
number of defective teeth in mouths harbouring teeth not wholly
sound. There is no reason to suppose that in this respect girls
are better or worse than boys. Taking the total number of
decayed teeth found and dividing them by the number of children
found to be the possessors of such undesirable defects, we find
that they average for each child affected 3.8 temporary teeth
and 2.4 permanent teeth. For boys the figures are respectively
3.9 and 2.5; for girls 3.7 and 2.3. Such insignificant differences
in the results of two sets of arbitrarily selected examining
officers, where only minor differences in the actual results are
reasonably to be expected, are reassuring when considering the
reliability of the records in respect of uniformity of standard.
There can, of course, be no question that absolute uniformity of
standard is unattainable. Even the same observer will differ
from time to time in his estimate of the degree of minor departures
from the normal, and no two men are likely to attain, even in
standardised observations, exact agreement. But I think that,
taken as a whole, the returns of the Assistant School Medical
Officers may be said to reflect fairly accurately average medical
opinion as to the degree and extent of abnormalities and diseases
to be found among school children, and this is perhaps for
practical purposes more valuable than the more uniformly exact
observations and specialised opinion of an expert exclusively
devoted to pedagogic medicine. In speaking of the general
results of medical inspection, I shall assume, then, that the errors
of the personal equation are neutralised in the aggregate, and
that, in the general results, we are dealing with as reliable data as
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