130 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



of sufficient interest to warrant their inclusion in this 

 paper. Altogether, 374 children have been examined, 

 excluding re-inspections. Of these, 131 were under 

 one year, 77 under two years, 83, 50 and 33 under 

 three, four and five years respectively. The outstand- 

 ing feature of an analysis of the medical record cards 

 is the rapid rise in the tide of disease with each year 

 of life. For, while the large majority of the children 

 in the first period are found to be healthy, only a 

 small minority come through to their fifth year without 

 at least one physical defect of some kind or another. 

 This is most strikingly seen in cases of dental caries, 

 a condition which is, probably, responsible for more ill- 

 health among children than any other. The increasing 

 percentage of these cases in successive years is shown 

 in the table below. 1 k should further be added that, 

 as a rule, the more advanced the age, the more 

 extensive was the disease. A very similar rise is 

 seen both with enlarged tonsils and with adenoids, 

 while the proportion of these cases in urgent need 

 of surgical operation increases yearly, indicating, of 

 course, the aggravation of the condition when left 

 untreated. With rickets, on the other hand, the 

 incidence reaches a maximum in the second year, 

 thereafter rapidly declining; this disease therefore, 

 so often the cause of lifelong deformity, has inflicted 

 its damage long before school age. 



Altogether, the 374 children presented 332 defects. 

 In addition, the feeding in a large proportion of the 

 cases in the earliest years required some modification, 

 great or small, and in almost one-half the cases under 

 one year needed revision in one way or another. The 

 following table, showing the percentage of children 



1 These figures lead up very well to the statement by the 

 Chief Medical Officer to the Board of Education (Annual Report, 

 1910, p. 166), that " not more than a few children out of every 

 hundred .... fail to bear evidence of past or present 

 dental disease." 



