Newark post., 1910-03-16
Medical Inspection In
The Schools
Address By Prof. Messersmith Be.
for New Century Club

Address By Prof. Messersmith Be.
for New Century Club
1t is a current saying that you can
recognize a clergyman by his cloth, a |
business man by his brusque manner, a |
counsel by his countenance, and tea
cher by his talk. | will not attempt to |
disprove the tradition, but will tell my
trade by my talk"
When | was done the honor to b..
invited to speak to you this afternoon.
| cast about for subject and decided
to speak on theme that may be re-
garded as opportune-"The Medical
| Inspection of Schools" The Women's
| clubs OF our country. and one cannot
say the same of all the mems, are very
much interested i'll civic and etiuca |
| tional problems. 1t is through them
| that leaders in educational thought
have often been able to make effective
| and popular some lar-reaching and
| revolutionizing chang IN our schools.
| The subject OF medical inspection is
! a comparatively new one i'll this cOun-
try, at least recent enough to be much
misunderstood. | will endeavor TO
give you at least a sketch of the origin
| of medical inspection. its aims, its
present status in the United States, and
a brief statement OF what ii has and is
accomplishing.
| HISTORY.
Since the days of Jurenal men have
been repeating his dctum oi SOUND
mind in sound body" until it has
become trite phrase. Whatever
schools may have done towards the
realization OF the first aim, for them
the second part of the dictum was mere
sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
Until the middle OF the last century,
school authorities concerned them
selves little Il any with the health OF
the children. The State and the school
looked upon the health OF the child as
the parents care solely.
As a consequence, cities and towns
were notoridusly lthy, having me
organized means for protecting the
health of the citizens. The centering
OF population led to the organization
OF Boards OF Health i'll all civilized
countries, until now we even find them
among the hali-civilzed nations. The
schools did not awaken from their
apathy so readily. The school-room
OF the old type, with its poor illumlna-
ton, sutfy atmosphere. poor heating,
deiorming and back-breakinp seats,
long hours, and rigid rules, Is with us
yet. There are schools III our own
little commonwealth today where these
conditions still prevail. The schools
; were breeding places for scarlet fever,
) measles, mumps, and other contagious
diseases, and parents and school au-
thorities looked calmly OH as they said
'the children will have TO have them,
: anyway, they might as well have them
= now" Epidemics OF disease were
: not dcplored nor stamped out. but ra
thcr welcomed for as they said, lit
: disturbs the school less if they all have
the disease at the same time And
there are some places where this belief
!. still holdsl The child who could not
V hear we'll or see VIII, or suffered
from adenoids, or aencmia, or maine
K | triton was indisoriminately classed
+ as dull with those who were really
lacking in mental power. 1t would be
{ easy to continue to recount the crimes
: against the child in our schools i'll the
/. past and today.
/. 1t was III France, that country thai
: has been the social storm centre OF the
world for =, loN;, that the medical in
[ |
;. 1888 a decree of the French govern
v mcnt ordered that schocl committees
must see that the school houses arr
Kept clean, and in 1887 a royal ordin
ance made it the duty of teachers tc
keep special watch over the health o
It the children In IS42 and '43, it wa
n school must be visited by a physical
II til 1870 that the city 4! Paris begai
to have medical inspection OF schools
n after the manner we now interpret til,
plan. Ir Germany and Belgium th
O work began in 1880, and by 1893 thcr,
II was hardly school in these the
II countries in which there was not ELI
$ cient and continued inspection. Hun
gary, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Rus
q sia, Roumania, Switzerland, have al
f had compulsory inspection since I9oC
1i In Cairo and ChHe, in Argentina ant
Japan, medical inspection has beer
ii compulsory for some years.
The anglo-saxons have again becl
in the rear guard OF progress. |. Wa
4, not until 1908 that medical inspectlo
s became compulsory i'll England.
st To those of us who believe Sc fond
ly in the United States and hei leader
ship in all that means the elevation @
/" humanity it will be a surprise to lear
.r the extremely backward condition q
this work in our country. In Europ
6; medical inspection began in the recog
, nized intellectual centre, Paris; in tn
3 United States i'll the Hub, the Athen
ID of our social democracy, Boston,
1894 this city inaugurated the first ei
fcctive system of inspection, althoug
New York City as early as 1892 had
medical Inspector OF schools. Ne
10 York, Boston, Philadelphia and CHI
r cago are the only large cities which {
ar this day have complete o-ganizatio,
b Connecticut, Vermont and Mass;
rs chusetts have laws requiring the e,
r. animation of sight and hearing. an
n making the other examinations pc