Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-01-21

if the value Of medical inspection wa
understood by the people. Medica
inspection Of schools has for its object
the revealing and correcting Of IN
sanitary conditions existing within
the school which may act as predis
posing or exciting cause of disease
and its function is the detecting OF
| disease especially those of a cOntag
| iOus Or infectious variety.
Our children are attending school
under state laws compelling their at.
tendance when they are constantly
exposed to disease; for although the
school is not of itself, the cause of the
diseases no one car deny that it is a
| potent factor in their propagation,
and that in many schools conditions
| are found that a train of physical ills
are consequent which seems TO be the
price the child must pay for its edu-
cation.
The object Of the school, 1T is said,
is to train for good citizenship yet we
can not help but doubt if the defec.
tive adult with the sequealae of
measles, scarlet fever, or 6iptheria
contracted from his school n ates in
boy hood days can do the work he is
capable of when partially disabled by
| ill health, defective sight, or hearing.
The state owes more TO the child than
| a mental education, more to its self.
Today, hundreds. yes thousands OF
lives are sacrificed annually and num-
erOuS others bear the scars of the edu-
catioual fray till their life work is end
ed. ii per cent of the children are un-
fitted physically to enter into compe-
titiOn with their healthy fellows vet
under the present system they must
do 50. This waste of human life and
these numerous detectives can be
much reduced by medical inspection
increasing at the same time the men
tai and physical efficiency of the child.
The majority of communicable di-
SeaSeS incident to school life occur in
the school as a result of the bringing
of number of individuals in daily
close contact for several hours at d
time yet there are humber of other
diseases, SO called school diseases, viz;
diseases of special senses as refrac-
tive errors Of the eye, curvature of
spine, nervous affections as headache,
insomnia, chOrea, and diseases of
upper RESPIRATORY tract as enlarged
tOnSilS aud adenOidS, and parasitic
skIn diseases which bear close re-
iationship to school attendance, and
which may lead to conditions of i'll
health which of necessity has a delet-
erious effect upon the capacity of the
pupil for study, and when unrecog-
nlZed often results in failure not only
at school but also in later life. The
early detection of these detectives is
one of the best reasons for inspection
for while it will not abolish disease
amongst children it will reduce the
prevalence of these school diseases and
the danger OF contracting contagious
diseases to minimum and thereby pre-
vent many of the physical defects re-
Sulting therefrom. Medical inspec-
tion is demand made by the modern
recognition of preventive medicine
and its full significance is becoming
more widely appreciated as it results
become more apparant. 1t means
that the child and not only the edu-
cational system is being considered.
Where it has been tried they are
unanimous in extolling it's value not
only in detecting and preventing di-
sease but in improving the hygienic
condition OF the child and along num-
erous other lines affecting the child
the teacher and community. It is a