View report page

viii.
There are three other medical points of a general character not specially
mentioned in the Report, to which I should like to allude ; three defects that
may exist in any child without the parent being aware of the fact. These are
Heart Disease, Hernia and Lung Disease.
Heart Disease. This may be either congenital or acquired, that is the
child may have been born with some organic defect in the valves of the
heart, or such defect may have developed after some strain or illness such
as Rheumatic Fever. In either case the fact that the child has a weak heart
may not be known till it faints or becomes ill on any sudden or unusual
exertion, and till then nobody knows that extra exertion is bad for the child,
and in some cases might even be fatal. A very brief examination with a
stethoscope would at once defect the abnormality.
Hernia. Many boys, and some girls, are ruptured, or have a condition
predisposing to hernia. Probably in most cases this is known to the parent and
the School Teacher may have been told, but it is surprising how many children
there are in whom this serious defect is only found on being specially looked for.
These two conditions, Heart Disease and Hernia, are specially important
in view of the fact that physical exercises, drill and gymnastics in some form or
other are now compulsory in all our Schools in this district. It seems to me
that the Education Committee is running a grave risk in insisting that every
child must take violent exercise without first being satisfied that they are not
subjecting the child to any danger by so doing.
Lung Disease. This condition is one of less direct moment than the other
two. It is, I think, one that affects the general community of the Schools more
than the individual child. The only disease of the lungs that need be
considered now is consumption. I have no means of estimating the proportion
of children in our Schools affected with pulmonary tuberculosis, but I imagine
that it is small. But however small the total number of children may be, it must be
remembered that consumption is an infectious disease, and even one child
suffering from it is a possible source of danger to others, and should be
excluded. An advanced case of consumption is obvious to all, but it requires
skilled examination to detect one in an early stage.