510 MAN CONTROLS HIS ENVIRONMENT FOR HEALTH 



ing food and little exercise. Hundreds of sanitariums are now 

 established in various parts of the country and are maintained by 

 taxation as a part of the expenditure of the city, county, and state 

 boards of health. There are many private sanitariums as well, 

 maintained by various benevolent orders. In this way and by 

 laws which require proper air shafts and window ventilation in 

 tenement houses, by laws against spitting in public places, and in 

 other ways, the boards of health in our towns and cities are waging 

 war on tuberculosis. 



Work of the division of school and infant hygiene. Besides 

 the division of communicable diseases, the division of sanitation, 

 which regulates the general sanitary conditions of houses and their 

 surroundings, and the division of inspection, which looks after the 

 purity and conditions of sale and delivery of milk and foods, there 

 is another division which most vitally concerns school children. 

 This is the division of school and infant hygiene, which supervises 

 the care of the children of the city. 



Adenoids. Many children suffer needlessly from enlarged 

 tonsils and adenoids — growths in the back of the nose and mouth 

 which cut off part of the normal supply of air to the lungs. A child 

 suffering from these growths is usually a " mouth breather." The 

 result to the child may be deafness, chronic running of the nose, 

 nervousness, and lack of power to think. His body cells are 

 starving for oxygen. A very simple operation removes these 

 growths. Cooperation of the children and parents with the doc- 

 tors or nurses of the board of health will do much in removing this 

 handicap from many young lives. 



Eyestrain. Another handicap to a boy or a girl is eyestrain. 

 In a survey, sometime ago, twenty-two per cent of the school chil- 

 dren of Massachusetts were found to have defects in vision. Tests 

 for defective eyesight may be made easily at school by competent 

 doctors, and if the weakness is corrected by procuring proper 

 glasses, a handicap on future success will be removed. 



Physical examinations. Decayed teeth are another handicap 

 cared for by this division. Free dental clinics have been established 

 in many cities, and if children will do their share in caring for their 

 teeth, the chances of their success in later life will be greatly aided. 



