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74
a "running ear," and may also occur after such infectious
diseases as measles, scarlet fever, and diphtheria.
Probably measles is the cause of more cases of serious
deafness in children than any other disease.
In many cases of "running ears," from which .3% of
the children examined were found to suffer, attention to the
underlying cause in the nose and throat is sufficient. Longcontinued
cases with offensive discharge are due to diseased
bone, and can only be cured by its radical treatment.
Many cases of children with slight deafness as a cause
of backwardness come under the notice of the Doctor, and
by ensuring that adequate treatment is carried out and that
the child is placed in a suitable position in the class, much
annoyance to a teacher and retarded education to the child
are saved.
Defects of Speech.—50 children who were presented
showed this defect either as—
(a) Lalling or Baby-Talk.—This consists in a misplacement
of consonants with a slurring of the word. It
accounted for 21 of the cases found. The defect is usually
due to lack of careful training at home, and the child generally
speaks normally before the infant department is left.
In a few cases lalling is a sign of mental deficiency, and
therefore all children who exhibit it are somewhat carefully
examined.
(b) Lisping, which was found in 8 cases, is also a minor
trouble, which should be cured in the course of school life.
(c) Nasal, thick and indistinct speech, found in 6 cases,
is due to adenoids or other causes of nasal obstruction, or
the speech may be indistinct from a cleft palate, and is
remedied by suitable treatment of the cause and care in
after-treatment.