Norwich bulletin., 1910-09-20
MORTALITY RECORD FOR
THE PAST MONTH.
Norwich Had 80 Deaths, Four Being in
Public Institutions-Average Slight
Iy Over That of the State.

BY mortality reports received by the
state board of health there were 1,416
deaths during the month of August.
This was 319 less than in July and 76
less than in August of last year, and
100 less than the average number of
deaths during August for the five years
preceding.
The death rate was 1913 for the large
towns, for the small towns 17.2, and
1871 for the whole state
There were in Norwich 80 deaths.
representing an annual death rate of
1853 a thousand, eleven of the deaths
being under five years. Death result
ed from the following causes: Diar
rhoea 6, consumption 4, disease of the
nervous system 8. heart disease 8.
scarlet fever 2, accident or violence 2,
typhoid fever and pneumonia each,
in public institutions here.
There were no deaths in Bozrah,
Franklin. Lisbon. Mansfield, Old Lyme,
Salem and Sprague, while no report
was received from Ledyard.
A number of infectious diseases were
reported, Norwich having two of scar
let fever, seven of diphtheria or Group,
three of typhoid fever, and four of
consumption. During July there were
10 marriages and IS births here
In the past month New London had
rs deaths, Groton IL, KillingIy IL,
Plainfield Z, Putnam 5, Stonington 13,
and Windham IA. There was one death
each in East Lyme, Montville and
Sterling.
Medical Inspection of Schools.
In the report of the secretary of
the state board of health, DR.. J. H.
Townsend has a statement regarding
the medical inspection of schools as
follows:
Under the Connecticut law the
boards of education and school COM
nlittees in the several towns of the
state may appoint physicians to act as
school inspectors. This law would be
much better il it We're mandatory, as
in the state of Massachusetts, rather
than permissive. Medical inspection
of schools is a movement of recent
growth, although by no means in it's
infancy and long ago passed the ex-
perimental stage. European countries
have had it for many years, and in the
United States the first regular system
of inspection began in Boston in 1894.
Although the Connecticut law gives to
school committees the authority to ap-
point medical inspectors the work in
this state has been very generally
started and carried on by the boards
of health and health officers, so that
at the present time all our larger cit
les have regularly appointed inspec-
tors and in many of the smaller places
the work is carried on as part of the
duties of the health officer. This is
SO, because health officials could not
avoid recognizing the fact that the
school has become the most certain
center of infection in the community
and medical inspection has grown up
| for the purpose of detecting cases of
| contagious diseases and segregating
| such cases for the protection of other
children. Wherever esta blished. good
results have been evident. Epidem-
| les have been checked or avoided and
| improvement has been noted in the
| cleanliness and neatness of the chill
| dren.
| But medical inspection does not stop
here; other problems have forced
themselves on the attention of the in
| spectors. Pupils have been unable to
| keep up with their classes, being term
| ed packard" or retarded" Inquiries
| and physical examinations of these
| cases by school doctors have revealed
a surprising number of children who
| through defective eyesight, hearing and
other causes have been seriously hand
| icapped in their school work. Thus
medical inspection has been developed
not only for the detection of conta-