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161
First Onset in Relation to School Attendance.—
There are eighteen children of this class, five of whom
have never attended school. Of the remaining thirteen,
two began school at three, one at the age of four, four at
the age of five, five at the age of six, and one at the
age of nine. Of the thirteen who have attended school,
three had epileptic seizures prior to admission, the other
ten developing epilepsy after admission to school. These
eighteen children are now unable to attend school on account
of the frequency or severity of the epileptic seizures or their
mental condition. Twelve have severe attacks of epilepsy,
and in six cases the attacks are slight but frequent, occurring
daily, twice weekly, fortnightly, every two months
and every five months. The child who has slight fits every
two months has only shown these symptoms recently and
has been excluded by the School Medical Officer under
observation. The child who has fits every five months is
weak minded.
Mental Condition.—The mental conditions of these
children may be classified as follows:—
Bright, two (one suitable for Epileptic Colony, one has
not attended school for the past four years on
account of severe epilepsy).
Average, five (one of these mischievous).
Dull, 11 (one irresponsible, one weak-minded).
Mother Craft.—The need of providing instruction on
Infant Care for the older girls in the Public Elementary
Schools and for mothers becomes more and more apparent.
A great proportion of infant mortality is due to ignorance
on the part of those whose duty it is to care for the baby.
It should also be remembered that when we say that the
infant mortality rate in Willesden during 1913 was 80,
we do not merely mean that 80 out of every 1,000 babies
born alive died before the first year, but that the same