Weekly journal-miner., 1911-05-10

card to his parents, signed by the
 school physician, stating that such
 defect or disease mas been found
 and recommending that the family
 physician be consulted at once. No
 treatment is given by the school
 physician except to the, children of
 those who cannot afford to provide
 treatment for them: and then only
 at the request of the parents or
 guardians.
 These examinations have proved , beyond doubt that there is a phy-
 sical basis for mental baekwardness
 and moral perversity. A few of the
 greater minds recognized this fact
 several generations ago. but it was
 left for systematic examination of | school children to prove it beyond
 doubt "Three generations ago i Charles Dickens in his 'UncOmmer ] eial Traveller pointed out a rela- tion between open mouths and back wardness and delinquency that would have saved millions Of dollars and millions of life failures had the civ ilized world listened. He was speak ;ng of delinquent girls from seven teen to twenty years old in Mapping wOrkhOuse: I have never yet aseer- tained why a refractory habit should affect the tonsils and the uvula; but ! T have always observed that refrac tories of both sexes and every grade,
 between Ragged School and the Old Bailey. have one voice. in which
 the tonsils and uvula gain dis eased ascendancy.
 FTOday we are just beginning to see over again the connection be- tween inability to breathe through the nose and inability to want to do | what teachers and parents wish. Phy- sieal examinations show now, and might just as well have shown fifty years ago, that the great majority of truants and juvenile offenders have adenoids and enlarged tonsils. A recent examination made by the New York board of health on 150 children in one school made up from the truant scnOOl, the juvenile court and Randall's Island, showed that only three were without some phy- Sical defect and that 137 had aden- oids and large tonsils. What would have been the story of juvenile way wardness, of sickness, of educational advancement. had examinations for defective breathing been started in 1853 or 1860 instead of 1905; if one per cent of the attention that has been given to teaching mouth breath CTS the ten commandments had been spent on removing the nasal obstruc- tions to intelligence?'
 "'Whenever school children's eyes
 have been examined, from six to nine out of thirty are found to be near-sighted. far-sighted. or other wise in need of attention. A child
 is dismissed from school for Obsti- nately declaring that the letter be- , tween and in 'cat' is an O; a pupil in her fourth year was recent ly brought to me by her teacher with the statement that she did un- reasonably poor work in reading for an intelligent and willing child'; boy is punished for being backward. These three cases are typical. Ex- aminaticns showed that the first child was astigmatie and not obsti- nate; the boy mad run a pin into one eye ten years before and de- stroyed its sight; while the second girl was found to be afflicted with diplOpia. and in a friendly chat told the following story [ very often see two words where there is only one. When I was a very little girl I used to write every word twice. Then l was seOlded for being care less. So I learned that I must not say two words even when I saw them. '
 Early last fall such a system of school examination was begun at St. Joseph 's Academy in this city and this was. l believe, the first attempt made in Arizona to conduct a sys- tematic examination of school ehIl- dren. Arrangements are now in progress whereby examination of all the pupils attending this institution will be conducted monthly during the next school year. The second schools in Arizona to take up this work were the public schools of Bis bee. where medical examinations were begun about Christmas of last year. not be behind in this most import ant work and I sincerely hope that at least a beginning may be made during the next school year.
 As the care of children devolves so largely on women, it is but natural to suppose that they would be intensely interested in conserving the health of the next generation. l know of no more important measure of conservation than medical exam ination of school children. This would seem to be a fruitful field of endeavor for the Monday Club of Prescott and kindred organizations throughout the territory.
 When the boy has reached the age of 21. he acquires the right to take part in civil government proper; | that is. the government of the town or precinct, the country, the state and the nation. The government of the family is based on natural rights; while that of civil govern ! ment proper is founded on acquired | rights. The government of the school ] is rather intermediate between the l two beinU hased Dartly on natural ]