Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-01-14

life and for the health and happiness
OF all the people" l;att4u
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS
Khat the Johnston County Health ON.
Ger Found In -Four Months.
ns (B9HJH.: UtleySMtD9
In the short space OF four months
time. fspentfi in the examination 0fthe
school children for physical defects
last year, / found 2S9. pupils who were
partially blind In n or both eyes.
Children who could not see figures on
the blackboard at an unusual distance,
could o telook upon the printed, page
OF, their books for any length OF time
Tor the pain and discomfort it gave
the eye. Children who for the simple
reason OF their physical defects could
rot devote al much time to their study
thereby having to- lag b~ehindnfinthe
progress made by others. These chill
are to be the blind men and wo-
men Of the county in just a few years
linen and women who arctic be de-
pendent upon somebody, not only for
their support, but even for their NOV
- o1OuAu III LAO- udIhd S IL W6IO. .--r
] examined % pupils who were al
most deaf in one or or both ears, and
seemed to give no heed to the teaching
of the lessons unless the teacher talk
ed in a loud tone of voice. These pu-
pills we're dull and l~istless and could
not compete in the progress made by
the full physically developed child IN
his studies.
During the examination 1 found 800
pupils who were mouth breathers--
children who had adenoids that pre-
vented the air entering the lungs il
tie usual Way-through the nose
Children who were taking into their
lungs impure, dry and unprepared air
thereby not feeding the cells and It's
sues with the pure oxygen, the life
giving substance from which every
sell Of the body-must- obtain its hour
tshment. These children were .handi-
capped mentally and physically and
were easy subjects for all diseases of
The respiratory tract. These children
will be a part of the coI1sumptive pop
plation OF the county in a few more
years and then will endanger the lives
Of all who live in close contact to
them.
Il examined 704 pupils who had been
losing much time from school on ac-
count of e,throats and upon the gex-.
/ found they had large and
diseased tonsils. These pupils, too,
were accustomed to breath through
the mouth and their speech was nc
and distinct and the articulation
OF speech not. perfect. They had
rounded shoulders with poorly devel-
oped chests and suffered a great deal
from headache and 4could not study as
much as they really wanted to do
Many of these children had been hav-
ing scarlet fever, diphtheria ever more.
that once and other diseases Of the
respiratory organs.
Upon examination, 598 pupils pre-
scented teeth in process of decay, some
had and others very bad. These chit
dren were the d~yspeptics of the school
and everything seemed to worry them
and make them cross and ill. A sound
and perfect tooth is Like. a good neigh
Dor, we do not like to part with it;
hut a diseased OF decayed tooth Is
even more worry and danger to us
than our worst enemy. The pupils
who had been taught the importance
of clean and perfect teeth and had
been caring for their teeth as all
should do, were the children who were
meking the highest score in their
unless they had other defects.
Without the aid of the microscope,
I was able to be sure that 1,124 pu-
Ills examined had hookworm diseasf.
] his forces us to realize that better
school and home sanitation should
exist all over the country. One child
with hookworm disease attending
school at which there is not.a sanitary
rrivy can so pollute the soil with
Of eggs OF the hookworm
that the entire number OF pupils at
tending the same school, will haveA the
disease in two years. These children
are ~repeaters in school and thousands
Of dollars are spent every year. send
them to school to go over the same
of the previous years. l ex-
ahmed some pupils who had been at.
tending, school all the time for sig
years and were still in the first grade.
Not any fault of the teacher, but sim
ply due to the physical defect of the
These are the pupils who do
not want to go to school because they
they. are not able to cope with,
the others in their studies and they
Just don't feel like going to school.
All the above defects are serious
nindrances to the mental and physical
development of the school child espec-
tally and can be easily removed if only
would ,Eealize our responsibility to
our children and do what is really our
S1,fv. 70 dn Cor fhom .