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of a small piece of dry wool. On September 30th a notice was
sent to the parents threatening action under the Children Act
if the child was not immediately treated, with the result that
three days later the child was taken to the Bolingbroke Hospital
where the tooth was removed. Within six days the mouth
was clean, and the external abscess healing. A sinus was,
however, left, and this continued to discharge for a further
five months. The child's health had been undermined by the
prolonged septic absorption, and the child permanently disfigured,
in addition to which the child had been absent from
school for a period of nine months for what should ordinarily
have been a matter of a week or ten days. I also find that of
the children which I refer for treatment for abscesses in the
tooth sockets a considerable number go to two unqualified
dentists in the town, who make the same statement that the
tooth cannot be taken out so long as there is any discharge,
and I find this very difficult to combat as the parents of these
children are not in a position to differentiate between a properly
qualified dentist and a bogus practitioner who holds himself
out to be a dentist.
(h) Nose and Throat.
As in previous years there has been considerable difficulty
in getting cases of adenoids attended to owing to the long time
they have to wait before admission to the hospital. There is
a greater difficulty in getting enlarged tonsils attended to as
many of the parents seem to think that the children will grow
out of it. It is surprising how many parents will allow their
children to remain untreated with tonsils so large as to almost
meet. Although nowadays one does not see the extreme cases
of nasal obstruction one used to see before medical inspection
commenced there are still a large number of cases that require
attention as instanced by the fact that 188 of these cases were
under observation during the year, and more than half of these
got no treatment. The only remedy that I can see for this
state of affairs is the extension of the work of the Clinic to
take in these conditions.
(j) External Eye Disease.
This table (XVI.) only refers to cases seen during the
routine medical inspection. The total number of cases will be
found by adding to these the cases seen at the School Clinic.
(k) Vision.
There is still considerable difficulty in getting some of
these cases treated, but thirty have obtained spectacles through
the Invalid Children's Aid Association, mostly having been
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