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or to be kept under observation. It will be seen from the figures
given that at the routine inspections the number of defects found
to require treatment is very low compared with those which require
to be kept under observation. On the other hand at the special
inspections the defects found requiring treatment are very much in
excess of those referred for observation.
(a) Nutrition.
Table IIb gives a classification of the nutrition of the children
inspected during the year in the routine age group. This is a new
table provided this year for the first time and is of value in giving
a general idea of the state of nutrition of the children at different
periods of school life.
While the actual differentiation between excellent and normal
or normal and slightly subnormal depends very largely on the
personal opinion of the examiner, it must be regarded as satisfactory
that of the total children examined no less than 89.2 per cent. were
classified as either excellent or normal, and only 10.8 per cent. as
slightly subnormal or bad. The very low percentage of bad, 0.7 per
cent., is also satisfactory, although even this low figure is capable
of reduction in a district like Wood Green.
If the different age groups are taken separately it will be seen
that the figures in the second age group, that is the children of
eight years, are not so good as among entrants or third age group
children, that is children of twelve years or over, and that the
figures for "other routine inspections" which in Wood Green are
mostly children of thirteen or fourteen years, are the best of all,
94 per cent. of these children being classified as excellent or normal,
and only 0.2 per cent. as bad.
As this is the first year these figures have been supplied it is
of course impossible to make any detailed comparison with previous
years, but my own impression is that a steady, if slow, improvement
is taking place in the nutrition of the children in this district.
One still sees the occasional badly nourished child, the malnutrition
being due not always to sickness or even poverty, but more often to
carelessness or ignorance. This type of case is, fortunately, very
much less common than formerly, but still presents a problem to
the School Medical Officers. The other type of case where the
malnutrition is due to poverty, can be and is dealt with in Wood
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