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19
General Results of Medical Inspection.
The general results of medical inspection approximate very
closely to those of the year 1909, so far as these may be judged
from the statistical returns.
The variations from the statistical results of last year are in
fact remarkably inconspicuous.
The standard of cleanliness of skin and head has deviated
very little from that ascertained during the first year of inspection.
Verminous heads are very slightly more frequent in boys, but
in girls there has been an improvement to the extent of 2 per cent.
In both there is a slight increase in the occurrence of body vermin,
a comparatively infrequent condition which calls for the exercise
of more drastic powers than are at present possessed.
Under the Children Act, the cleansing of the verminous children
may be carried out under somewhat cumbersome conditions,
but no powers are given to cleanse the other members of the
family, who are almost invariably in these cases verminous also.
It is, of course, a mere waste of time to cleanse the children and
send them back to verminous homes where they become straightway
re-infected. Wherever children have been cleansed under the
Children Act, an offer has been made to cleanse the other inmates
of the home, together with the bedding and clothing, but in all
instances this offer has been emphatically refused. As no power
can be exercised to compel cleansing of the person of adults, even
when verminous conditions are known to exist, permanent foci for
the spread of vermin are established in the schools attended by
these children. Exclusion of the children and prosecution of the
parents for non-attendance is a palliative by no means satisfactory.
Recurring fines are paid, but no attempt to remove the cause
is made.
The repeated exclusions interfere seriously with the education
of the child, the fines cripple the already insufficient resources of