926

Medical Inspection and the AnnualReport of the Board of

Education.

THE LANCET.

LONDON: SA TURDA Y, MARCH 27, 1909.

THE proceedings of the Board of Education have now, and 1

will henceforth in greater degree have, an interest for medicalreaders, and the fact furnishes one more illustration of the 1

manner in which medical science is gradually permeatingthe affairs of the State. The medical department of the

Local Government Board has been with us for many yearsand is, as it were, part of our daily life; and year by yearthe doings of the medical department of the Home Officeacquire increasing interest for us owing to its growinginfluence upon some 5,000,000 of the population who are

engaged in industrial pursuits. And now there is the

medical department of the Board of Education raising its, as

yet, small voice, but a voice replete with all the poten-tialities and enthusiasm of infancy and an unknown future.As we watch these developments we are tempted to reflectas to their tendencies. Do they mean that within the next

quarter of a century there will be a great public healthservice representing the knowledge and interests of each

State department, or do the facts suggest that there will be

departmental independence and perhaps divergence ratherthan convergence ? ‘! As yet it is too early to prophesy or

even to discuss with profit the pros and cons of the alter-

natives, and we can only hope that in the meantime therewill be the most cordial cooperation between all the medical

departments concerned.The space occupied by medical subjects in the current

(1907-08) report of the Board of Education is but small, in

keeping perhaps with the embryonic proportions of the

medical department, but we are promised a special report atan early date which will supply detailed information as tothe steps taken by the various local education authorities.The Board, however, states that as the result of experiencealready gained it is convinced that the general lines laid

down in its first memorandum (Circular 576) 1 are those

which must be followed if the organisation of medical

inspection is to be placed upon a broad and sound basis, andit is satisfied that substantial progress in the organisa-tion of the work is being made throughout the country.Local education authorities are, it reports, with few

exceptions, doing their best to perform the duties imposedupon them by Parliament. We have already noticed some ofthe local annual reports in our columns, and we are able to

testify that in the case of the few reports which have as yetreached us the local authorities do appear to be taking

1 THE LANCET, Feb. 22nd, 1908, p. 585.

their duties in a serious and responsible fashion. In

the special case of London, on account of the experiencegained in the past six years, the Board of Education has

agreed to approve a somewhat modified and limited scheme2called for, perhaps, by the peculiar circumstances of the

case, and in approving this scheme the Board has not

insisted upon its full requirements being carried out

in respect of every child. It appears that the arrange-ments which the Day Schools Subcommittee of the Educa.tion Committee of the London County Council are makingunder this modified scheme will insure that the completeinspection of every child admitted to or leaving school

shall be carried out in a limited number of schools

only. As regards individual examination of all the children,this will be confined to a further limited number of schools,and the records will not be so elaborate as those prescribedby the regulations of the Board. In the large majority ofschools such individual examination will only be madewhen the children present abnormality. This year the

records will be taken of the height and weight of childrenattending 80 schools only and the scheme will be furtherdeveloped throughout the year and in 1910. The Board of

Education is content with this scheme for London, and wehave no doubt that it is the best which can be secured in

the circumstances.

As regards the Education (Provision of Meals) Act*

1906, the Board reports that up to the end of July, 1908,51 local education authorities have been authorised to spendmoney from the rates in providing food for school children;and with respect to the teaching of hygiene we are glad tosee that the teachers will in future be called upon to take

one paper on this important subject. There are now several

open-air schools in operation during the summer months, the

example of Germany in this matter having been followed.At these schools opportunities for physical instruction,

games, and nature study are afforded, and there are intervalsfor midday rest. Meals are provided under various conditionsof payment. All these open-air schools have been carriedon under the Elementary Education (Defective and EpilepticChildren) Act, 1899, and the children were selected after

medical examination, forming a further excellent example ofthe way in which the teachings of medicine are more andmore employed in our sociological developments.

The Story of Malaria in Mauritius.T HE recent reports 01 rroiessor RONALD ttoss and major

C. E. P. FOWLER, R.A.M.C., on malaria in Mauritius

furnish an interesting chapter in the history of that

disease and give a striking illustration of the application ofmodern methods to the scientific investigation of tropicalmedicine. In 1907 Lord ELGIN, at that time H.M. Secretaryof State for the Colonies, requested Professor Ross to

proceed to Mauritius to inquire into the circumstances asso-ciated with the continued endemic presence, and the

threatened epidemic prevalence, of malarial fever in that

colony, and to advise the local government and their officialsas to the most appropriate measures which should be

2 THE LANCET, Nov. 21st, 1908, p. 1568.