View report page

114
in weight, important as it is in assessing satisfactory progress, cannot,
even in cases of malnutrition, be our only criterion. The
average gain in weight per month per child in the cases tabulated
above was lib. 2ozs. It has been suggested that the administration
of cod liver oil produces comparable results in this type of case, but
this has not been our experience, and a large number of children
who have received prolonged treatment with cod liver oil and malt
or with virol, either alone or in combination with Parrish's food,
have shown little or no improvement, whereas the subsequent
treatment with artificial light has resulted in a very rapid improvement
in the physical condition of these children. In this connection
the fact must not be overlooked that on the one hand the
child is receiving ready-made vitamin, whilst on the other hand
the vitamin is manufactured within the tissues of the body as the
result of stimulating a metabolic process which has become sluggish.
Furthermore, the production of vitamin is only one of many
of the proven beneficial results of exposure to ultra-violet radiation.
The treatment has also been used with very marked benefit in cases
of chronic bronchial catarrh, bronchitis, rheumatism and adenitis,
after other methods of treatment had resulted in no amelioration
of symptoms.
Many of these cases have been under treatment for three
years, and I would warn hasty observers that no considered opinion
on the effects of treatment can be given in regard to children who
have been attending for a few months only.
If possible, I hope to include in my report for next year a
resume of the progress and subsequent history of some of the
children who have been discharged from the Clinic.
The marked general improvement, both physical and mental,
in the cases under treatment has been amply verified by parents
and teachers, and the former have exhibited a very firm conviction
as to the efficacy of the treatment, both verbally and by their
assiduous attendance at the Clinic; it has been noteworthy that
there have been very few absentees. The question of the novelty
of the Clinic, after three years, can hardly operate as a factor
in the regular attendance of an increasing number of scholars.
The tungsten arc lamp has been used mainly in the local
treatment of chronic cervical adenitis (in conjunction with general