The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1912-03-01

a greater effort to breathe and the
blood does not obtain sufficient oxy.
genation. Unless the brain is sup
piled with good circulation, it has
poor perception, is quickly exhaust
cd and the intelligence becomes below
normal. Finally the child becomes
dull and appears stupid and listless
We have all seen these stupid ap
Fearing children with open mouths
contracted nostrils and irregular
teeth, who snore at night and frigh-
ten their anxious mother by their
night terrors caused by obstruction
t. normal respiration and circula.
ton of poor blood in the brain. II
these diseased conditions are removed
the child's features will tend to as
sumo their normal appearance and
where there was dull, gaping ex-
preston, there will be shown bright
ness and intelligence.
Over 80 per cent of our school
children have decayed and irregular
teeth. In addition to being one of
the greatest assets to good looks,
good teeth are necessary for proper
mastication and digestion. Physic-
ians know that the greater portion OF
their incomes is derived from patients
with disorders of the digestive or
gans, and if the public would more
carefully masticatA their food, we
physicians would probably have to be-
come more economical in our expen-
ditures because of decreased reven-
ues. Another great evil of decayed
teeth is that the cavities form excel
lent incubators for the growth of di-
sease germs.
Being interested in this subject of
medical inspection and as / am as
ISOLATED with the public schools of my
home town by reason of membership
on the school board, obtained the
permission of my fellow trustees to
examine the children to see if the
findings of inspection in other parts
of the country could pe4 borne out by
my personal observation.
I made ruled forms for the teach
ers to fill out which would then en-
umerate those children who had: Cd
faulty position at desk, ca mouth
breathers, 90 those apparently deaf,
"a those with skin diseases, 50
those with nervous ltwitchings, CO.
those that were inattentive, CD those
desiring to go out often, (S) the con-
dition of mentality, good, fair or
poor.
After getting this information, l
had then individual examination
blanks printed. Two teachers regis
tered the pupil, giving the name, age,
grade, number of years attending
school, as well as the history of con-
tagious disease. The childs weight
and height were recorded and the
child was sent to two teachers in an
other room, where the distant vision
was tested with Snellen's vision chart.
The child was then sent to the next
room with his examination paper to
two other teachers whom had pre-
viously tested on the 24-foot whisper
test. From there the pupil was sent
to me in the school office, where the
ears, nose, throat and teeth were ex-
amined.
The results are as follows: Deaf
ness 16 cases 4 per cent; adenoids,
cases, 2 per cent; hypertrophied ton
sils, 81 cases, IA per cent.
There were So pupils with mild de-
fects of the eye, ranging from 2O-3O
to 20-40, and Al cases, II per cent,
with 20-5O to 5000. Thirty-one of
these pupils had headaches on read
ing. Twelve cases had change of
posture at desk in order to be able
to write their lessons. Eleven could
not see the lessons written on the
blackboard from where they sat in
their room.
The examination of the teeth |
showed that IS per cent had defective
teeth, 29 per cent of same in very
bad condition. Five pupils had mi
tral reorganization with histories of
rheumatism in four. Twenty-eight
per cent had no discoverabIe defects.
These results are very gratifying
and show that the children in this
western country have not nearly the
same number of physical defects
among them as examination shows ex
SITS among the schools of the east.
The histories of contagious diseases
ire of interest. Fifty-five per cent
rave history of measles; per cent
If diphtheria; 681a per cent of scar
ct fever; As per cent of whooping
ough; per cent of typhoid fever;
80 n |