Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1917-06-23
"Better Babies" Campaign

better 0aDleS Iampdlyn
we'll unless it is nourished by supply
Of good rich blood, and no blood can be.
come rich without goodly supply Of
pure oxygen, and right here l should
like to emphasize the Importance of
fresh air, sunshiny rooms and the clean
est environments to enhance the good
health of children. When conditions
are unusually bad, child if continually
subjected to them may develop SYM
ptoms resembling feeblmindedness.
The other day l read where many of
our cities have established psychological
clinics where backward or subnormal
children are examined to determine the
causes and durability of their mental or
moral defects, and in many cases chill
dren supposed to be hopelessly feeble
minded have been found to be suffering
merely from functional weaknesses OF
| the brain or in many cases the function
| al weakness has been traced to prolong-
ed exposure to a physically unhealthy
environment. Let me describe case
brought to such a clinic connected with
the University of Pennsylvania. There
was brought one day to this clinic dull,
sullen, stubborn girl Of eight, thought
bv her teachers to be hopelessly defec-
tive. The experts found she was sui,
fering from certain remediable diseased
conditions of adenoids and tonsillar
trouble which would help to account
for her extreme backwardness. In ad-
dition they found through visit OF a
nurse to her home that she had been
reared in an environment that would
blast the mental and physical health OF
sny child. Here is an exact description
of what the nurse found. The living
room. one window, one table, few chairs,
| lounge, dirty clothes piled in one cor
ner, a barking cur and many flies. The
table was covered with piece OF black
oil cloth on which was found pieces OF
: brown bread and glasses of tea. NC
, meals were ever prepared and the
! family never sat down to the table.
Their diet consisted of brown bread,
and sometimes fish. The bread was al,
WAYS on the table for the flies to craw
over and the children to eat when hun
, ger drove them to it. The front OF The
house looked out on board fence which
divided double alley. In the rear
D small back yard, one hydrant for sev
, eral families. There was underground
drainage, but an offensive odor came
!, from closets. This was the soil IL
which Fannie had struggled to grow
for eight years. When the schoo
Y nurse visited the home Fannie sa
, crouched in corner, her eyes suller
and dead, her mouth hanging open, he
: skin showing her poorly nourished con
n dition, her whole face devoid of life
| and interest. Such description hor
/ ~ &c
YOU protest. Not so rare as you mag
4 inc Osler says enlargement OF thu
. tonsils occurs at times at birth ant
a most frequently from ten to fifteel
years. The enlargement may follow
: dphtheria. measles, scarlet fever
chicken pox, ETC. Determines of chest
: changes in the facial expression, some
o times stunting of the growth. Hearing
: is impaired due to extension of infam
nation along the Eustachian tubes ant
e rowing of the orifices by presence o
r adenoids. Taste and smell impaired
Y with these symptoms there may be lit
. tie or no nasal catarrh. The mucous
always increased. Children do no
S swallowed, but older persons expector
h | dle IL WI III ullllCulty. IlSdudCuc, iIIi
desire for physical or mental exertion
, forgetfulness, inability to study with
: out discomfort, voice is altered and
l. nasal quality. The pronunciation o
a certain letters is changed. Inability t
pronounce the nasal consonants N. an
In.
The direct affect of chronic tonsllla
k enlal cement associated with adenold
i III Al II,
, of the outward symptom OF mout
I" breathing. There is more than grail
:. Of truth in Capt. Collins Aphorism
h 'shut your mouth and live long"
Il The removal of tonsils at this day /
one of more conservation than in year
s. past. At the Johns Hopkins Hospita
l. for example the practice is to regar
e the tonsis and adenoids in children a
I physologically important parts of tn
=. mechanism which protects the lowe
air passages from dust and organism
e | If there is no mouth breathing, no evi
t dence of damage to the ears, no chronic
" enlargement of the glands of the neck
;, no cystic condition of the adenoids AM
y no so called reflex neuroses the remova
. of adenoids regardless of their size o
d appearance is not recommended.
9 Scientific men are now describing
what they call (The Resting Point.
That is if they find one or both tonsil
S are the seat of infection or where re
peated attacks of severe tonsilitis SHOW
o that these tissues are easily infected
\ the tonsils should be removed Tonsil
Il they claim should be removed if guilty
y but a fair trial as to their guilt shoult
i be had and careful judgment reache
before they are executed.
EDWARD M. VAUGHAN, NJ. D.