538 MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 



ing the staff of inspectors augmented by assistants. An increase 

 in the nursing staff is indispensable, for the school nurse is, and 

 must be. a most important adjunct to any scheme of remedial 

 treatment of defects. It is possible to dilate upon the question, 

 and to point out the good ^vork that has been done in Australia 

 itpon lines similar to those ]:)ro])osed for this Province, but the 

 reader will doubtless fully realise the intrinsic interest of the 

 matter, and expand these argiunents at his leisure. 



I pass to the third essential — the stinudation of public interest 

 in the work, the creation of a iml)lic health conscience. It is pro- 

 posed to attack this side of the matter directly by lectures to 

 parents and teachers, and to the ])ublic at large, and indirectly 

 through the influence of rotitine school inspection upon the chil- 

 dren themselves. The value of a good school ntu-se's example is, 

 so far as the children are concerned, incalculable, and the Trans- 

 vaal is forttmate in its first school nurse, whose tactful and 

 simple service in this respect has been ])roductive of the happiest 

 results. Ignorance, more than wilful neglect, is responsible for 

 nuich of the misery of children in this l^'ovince, and a part of 

 this ignorance at least the school nurse and the school doctor can 

 eft'ace by judicious and kindly talks. The travelling hospital, with 

 its magic lantern and set of slides, should ])rove here, as it has 

 proved elsewhere, of signal service. To interest the teachers 

 alone will be an immense means of aclvancing the caiise. I look 

 forward to the time when every school in this country shall be 

 able to have its school joiu-ney — pro1)ably the most important asset 

 that the school doctor has a1 his dis])Osal practically to inculcate the 

 elementary rides of sanitary art and science-its school garden, and 

 its regtdar class in domestic hygiene, and the care of the body. 

 But before these reforms are possible, it is imj^erative that our 

 locally recruited teachers are themselves educated to recognise the 

 supreme importance of attention to these points. At present — 

 I say it with regret and with a full consciousness of my responsi- 

 bility — it appears to me that in some schools the teachers more 

 than the scholars stand in lu-gent need of a simple lesson on the 

 necessity for cleanliness and fresh air. 



Finally, we have the fourth essential, that school medical 

 inspection nntst endeavoitr to ])romote the amelioration of 

 domestic, industrial, and economic conditions that adverseh:! 

 aft'ect the rising generation. Obviously, it is much too soon to 

 outline the manner in which we in the Transvaal can usefully 

 deal with the various problems that confront us, for we lack, as 

 yet, the data to enable us to form definite conclusions for con- 

 structive eft'ort. Patient research and investigation must pre- 

 cede any trial, and it is possible that we shall have to experiment, 

 and lose money and energy over the trials, before Ave achieve 

 results that are enduringly satisfactor\'. Once more I may refer 

 to the mentally defective child, the uwron who is incapable of 

 concentrating his mind and of reaching a stage of development 

 sufficiently high to fit him for anything above the simplest em- 

 ployment in this complex civilisation of ours. At present we 



