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This disease, which is commonly called "Blight," is not
nearly so prevalent as in the days before Medical Inspection and
clinic treatment.
In those days this disease sometimes occurred in severe
epidemics, especially in the schools of the poorer districts where
the children were badly housed in overcrowded, dark, and illventilated
rooms.
Defective Vision.
3,559 children were examined for visual defects, as compared
with 1,883 in the previous year.
The results will be found in the table of defects, also in the
report of the Ophthalmic Surgeon on page 109.
Diseases of the Ear.
The percentage of boys found to have defective hearing was
0.85 in the right ear and 1.37 in the left.
In girls, 1.08 in the right and 1.06 in the left.
This defective hearing is, in a large number of cases, found
to be associated with Adenoids and Enlarged Tonsils.
Discharging ears, which is so common after such diseases as
Measles and Scarlet Fever and associated with impaired hearing,
was discovered in boys with the right ear involved in the percentage
of 0'58 and left ear 0'81. In girls the percentage was
0.66 right ear and 0.66 in left.
Several children had to be excluded from school on account
of the offensive smell connected with this trouble, but the
majority were allowed to attend school during treatment at the
morning clinic.
Diseases of the Heart
Heart disease was found in 76 boys and 72 girls, giving percentages
of 1.86 and 1.89 respectively.
In quite a large number of cases the parents were not aware
of the existence of this disease in their children, and upon investigation
the condition was frequently found to be associated with
a history of Chorea or slight Rheumatism. in some cases this