[Report 1928] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough.

  • Swindon Borough Council
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1928] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Owing to various causes the work done in the Secondary Schools during 1928 was less than had been done in previous years. Routine examination was limited to the Entrants and the super¬ vision of the older children was reduced to attention only to those cases which were referred to us directly. CONCLUSION. The School Medical Service of Swindon has been developed to a state where but little alteration or addition is to be expected from year to year. The town has been exceptionally fortunate for the last twenty years in that employment has been good, its industries fairly stationary, and the influence of the great shocks which have disturbed most communities during the last two decades, has been comparatively slight. Though the town poss¬ esses no riches, it has comparatively little poverty, and the pro¬ portion of children who suffer from insufficient nourishment or care is probably lower than in any large town in England. The arrangements for the care of children have been made as complete and as easy as possible and the population generally is amenable and appreciative. In December, 1928, it became possible to circulate to the public the periodical of the Central Council for Health Education “ Better Health,” and though this paper has only been available three months, its demand has exceeded the supply. Much is expected from the public distribution of this paper, for besides supplying information of a reliable character, it will have a steadying influence in teaching the population how to deal with the extraordinary claims of advertisements and the unwarrantable assertions of quacks and enthusiasts. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in the education of the public in healthy living is the practice of drugging. It is almost true to say that of the present day everybody uses drugs of some descrip¬ tion—except physicians. It is, of course, absurd to say that drugs have no value, or that in cases of disorder they are not re¬ quired, or advisable, but their value, even where their use is indicated, is comparatively slight, their danger is always con¬ siderable, and those which apparently have a beneficial action, at the time, are liable to produce far greater evils than they remedy Fortunately the people when they do take drugs seldom employ any other route but the mouth, and Nature has endowed our alimentary canal with the power of keeping out from the body most deleterious substances, with which we attempt to insult it, so that the majority of drugs and medicaments do little further harm than irritating the digestive machinery. But this is not the case with all drugs and, unfortunately, abuse of the alirnen-
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