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112
to the School for the Deaf among whom are children from other
boroughs In London and Middlesex.
in this Report for 1957, a brief review of the origin and
growth of the special ear, nose and throat clinics is given.
They are special in the sense that they differ very greatly in the
methods of treatment used and in certain instances in the class
ification and diagnosis of defects from the routine procedure
followed in most ear, nose and throat clinics. The consistently
high percentage of successful and lasting results obtained in the
cure and relief of the various ear, nose and throat ailments met
with among school and pre school children in comparison with other
routine methods of practice gives ample justification for the
establishment of these special clinics, their necessity and their
usefulness to the community.
The first of these clinics to be established was under the
Tottenham Education Committee more than twenty five years ago,
followed later by similar clinics in London and other areas in the
country.
Soon after the first world war, the increasingly large number
of cases of chronic discharging ears and resultant deafness
present among the school population of the Borough and the very
indifferent results obtained as regards cure or amelioration from
the lines of treatment then available, or of no treatment became
a matter of very serious concern to the school health authorities.
About this time,, Dr, A. R. Friel, a consultant ear, nose and throat
surgeon with a long and wide experience in his speciality introduced
in London a special method of electrical treatment known as
ionization for the treatment of chronic otorrhoea in school
children,, This method was originally developed in Prance by
Professor Leduc and used with marked success by Dr. Friel for some
years in Johannesburgh, and later, in collaboration with Professor
Leduc, in Prance.
This new method was introduced by Dr. priel in Tottenham
and was the first ionization clinic for the treatment of chronic
otorrhoea in school children in this country, Dr. Friel was
appointed visiting ear, nose and throat consultant to the Tottenham
Education Committee, The resulting successes in the cure of the
large majority of those hundreds of cases of chronic otorrhoea was
comparatively rapid, and indeed remarkable. Within a period of
about two years, practically all the cases of existing otorrhoea
among the school population of the Borough, with the exception of