Child life and labour / by Margaret Alden.

  • Alden, Margaret (Margaret Pearse)
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Child life and labour / by Margaret Alden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Record of Treatment following Inspec- tion in other Countries. The most notable examples of what has been done by doctors in elementary schools are to be found in Germany and the United States. Both these countries recognise that industrial efficiency cannot be secured without such care of the physique as the school doctor implies, and accordingly the Edu- cation Authority takes upon itself full responsibility for the physical welfare of the children under its control. Germany for instance, already possesses 670 school doctors. 127 of these are at work in Berlin and the statistics of the Central Medical Department for 1905 show that they examined 34,562 newly registered scholars, of whom 8.5 per cent, were “ referred back,” while 23.7 per cent, were placed under oversight. Nearly 80 per cent, of the children examined were found to have deficient sight. The dentist, like the oculist, is in nearly all German schools, and at Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Mulhausen and Strasburg, a regular inspection of children’s teeth is made. At the latter town, there is a dental surgery for school children (Schulzahn- klinik), an institution entirely supported by the municipality. Two qualified dentists work under the direction of Dr. Jessen and they often examine and treat as many as 100 children a day. In 1906 over 4372 children had their teeth seen to, and the number of teeth receiving attention of one kind or another amounted to 21,878 of which 7,065 were fillings and 7,985 extractions. A register is kept of each child examined and opposite each name is a coloured diagram of all the teeth and any that are unsound are marked in red ink. We are now in a position to sum up what seems