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117
The average number of pregnancies was 3.4 and the average number of children
alive per patient was 2.9. The patients who attend this clinic do not on the whole
present any exceptional obstetric history in respect of the total number of pregnancies
and it would appear that if the children play any part in the causation of ill health
in the mothers, they possibly exert their influence not so much through the strain
of child bearing but owing to the economic factors which are induced by the presence
of several children in a poor household.
Medical findings.—In a report of this type a detailed description of the medical
findings is unwarranted, but the following brief summary will give some idea of the
conditions dealt with during the year:—
Heart conditions 45 Diseases of the liver or ducts 4
Anaemia 187 Debility 8
Circulatory conditions 5 Malnutrition 2
Chest conditions 10 Rheumatism 8
Nervous conditions 6 Other conditions 6
Menopausal or allied condi. No apparent disease 10
tions 5
Thirty.five patients were referred to hospital for examination or treatment.
It will be noted that there has been a very consideable increase in the number of
cases of anaemia.
Arrangements were made at the beginning of the year for blood counts to be
done at St. Leonard's Hospital but later it was decided that for general purposes
the smaller, Talquist, examination was sufficient and this has been carried out at
the clinic. During the year 176 Talquist examinations were made, the percentage
of haemoglobin found being shown in the following table.

It will be noted that a fairly high degree of anaemia is common ; this is further
dealt with in a report by Dr. Aitken which is appended hereto.