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THE MEDICAL INSPECTION OF CHILDREN ATTENDING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
178
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
from the ordinary extract of kola in containing only traces of free caffeine, though from 8 to 9 per cent. of caffeine was present in the form of a complex chemical compound, probably the glucoside kolanin. The extract possessed medicinal properties equal in intensity to those of fresh nuts and afforiedan excellent illustration of the value of employing drugs in the fresh state when possible and of preventing those changes which are induced by the presence of oxydases. M. Perrot suggests that further investigations on the same lines may lead to the discovery of better methods for the manufacture of galenical preparations which shall be wholly representative of the drugs from which they are made. -
THE MEDICAL INSPECTION OF CHILDREN ATTENDING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. ON July 16th Mr. A. Birrell, President of the Board oi Education, received a deputation from the British Medical
Association and from the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. Mr. Tennant, M P , who introduced the deputation, said that the members thereof were anxious that the clauses in the Education Bill now under discussion concerning medical inspection should be made compulsory instead of voluntary. Sir Victor Horaley and Sir William H. Broadbent both spoke in support of the aims of the deputation. Mr. Birrell adopted the stereotyped form of reply upon such occasions. He had every sympathy with the desires of the deputation but he could not see his way to grant their requests. There was the spectre of the rates and he had received a deputation from ratepayers who did not share the views of the deputation which he was then receiving. All the same, every pressure would be put by the Board of Education upon local authorities to make such arrangements as they could. We have upon various occasions, notably in our issue of Feb. 24th, p. 536, and in that of April 21st, p. 1123, given the opinion that medical inspection is most desirable. As we said in the article referred to in our issue of Feb. 24th, the State compels parents to send their children to school, or at least to have them educa’ed, and this being so it is surely the duty of the State to find some way in which children attending school shall be prevented from being failures on account of their own ill-health or physical deficiencies or a source of danger to their fellows. In the course of the debate on the Bill during the same day in the House of Commons Mr. Tennant moved an amendment to one of the clauses to secure compulsory medical inspection of the children. Mr. Birrell said that he was in the He was willing to put down hands of the for the report stage an amendment to the following effect: "It shall be the duty of every local authority to provide for the medical inspection of every child on its application for admission to a public elementary school and on such other occasion as the Board of Education may direct or the local education authority may think fit." The matter will therefore be further discussed during the report stage of the Bill and we hope that in addition the question of the payment of the inspecting medical men will come up. Governments have a way of ordering people to send for medical men, without making any provision for the payment of the medical man sought for. An example in point is the Midwives Registration Act.
and Ireland. Some months ago a Russian gentleman took his place in the programme ; he was over eight feet in height; he was huge in every respect excepting the cranial or brain. containing part of his skull which was of very ordinary pro. portions. His face was massive and very placid ; his voice was sepulchral, but he was so obstinate and suspicious in nature that he absolutely refused to be examined or measured. At the present time three very remarkable individuals are being shown. They are supposed to be representatives of a native race of America (Mexico ?) which is now almost extinct. No history can be obtained beyond the fact that the German gentleman who now guides their destinies discovered them ir Germany whither they had been brought from America by a citizen of the United States. They provide, therefore, a very interesting problem for an enterprising physical anthro’ pologist. The cranial parts of their heads are uncommonly small ; the determination of the exact size of their brains is a matter for Professor Karl Pearson, but from measurements made of their heads their brain weights may be estimated to range between 500 and 600 grammes, considerably less than half that of the average individual. Their heads have the typical microcephalic form. Their skins are rather deeply pigmented-a brown tint, but the pigment is peculiarly superficial in deposit and apparently not permanent. The sex in each case is probably female but the breasts are not developed ; the palates are narrow and vaulted ; the state of their dentitions shows them to be under 20 years of age. The colour of the iris scarcely matches the complexion of the skin and indicates a very close relationship with one of the lighter-haired European The hair is tied in a bush-like mass on the crown of races. the head, thus emphasising the peculiar smallness of the skull ; the coiffure is one which we do not remember to have seen before in a native race. Their manners are polite and easy; they shake hands in the approved European fashion ; in fact, it must be concluded that their native manners have been entirely replaced during their short stay in Germany. They speak no language and the only words which they seem to understand belong to the German form of speech. As will be seen from the brief account just given, these "representatives of an almost extinct native race" are of interest not only to students of anthropology but also to those of human nature. ___
PRESERVATIVES IN MILK.
glad to see that the Local Government Board is the attention of the authorities who are responsible drawing for the administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts to the fact that the use of preservatives in milk is not a sine q1u), non to the trade. The Board, in a circular recently issued, states that in certain boroughs in London and elsewhere in which samples of milk are systematically tested for preservatives, the presence of substances at any time of the year has been found to be exceptional and there is evidence to show that a very large number of milk vendors conduct their business without the use of antiseptics, even in those instances in which the milk comes long distances by rail. Proceedings instituted against vendors of milk containing preservatives have usually been taken under Section 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act. Conviction has followed, it being held that when the purchaser who asks for milk is supplied with milk plus a preservative he MICROCEPHALICS AT THE HIPPODROME. does not receive an article of the nature, substance, and FROM time to time the enterprising management of the quality demanded and is prejudiced thereby. The Board Hippodrome includes in its programme items which have suggests that analysts should record in their quarterly an interst not only for the morbidly curious but also for reports the number of samples of milk which have been the genuine anthropologi-t. Last year it secured a group examined with the view of ascertaining the presence of preof pygmies from Central Africa-a race never before seen in servatives and should report at once to the council concerned England ; they became an attraction for "society " and the the facts as to samples which proved on analysis to contair subject of an elaborate memoir (not yet published) by a an added preservative. It is further suggested that procommittee of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain ceedings should be taken in all cases where such a
House.
-
WE
are
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
from the ordinary extract of kola in containing only traces of free caffeine, though from 8 to 9 per cent. of caffeine was present in the form of a complex chemical compound, probably the glucoside kolanin. The extract possessed medicinal properties equal in intensity to those of fresh nuts and afforiedan excellent illustration of the value of employing drugs in the fresh state when possible and of preventing those changes which are induced by the presence of oxydases. M. Perrot suggests that further investigations on the same lines may lead to the discovery of better methods for the manufacture of galenical preparations which shall be wholly representative of the drugs from which they are made. -
THE MEDICAL INSPECTION OF CHILDREN ATTENDING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. ON July 16th Mr. A. Birrell, President of the Board oi Education, received a deputation from the British Medical
Association and from the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. Mr. Tennant, M P , who introduced the deputation, said that the members thereof were anxious that the clauses in the Education Bill now under discussion concerning medical inspection should be made compulsory instead of voluntary. Sir Victor Horaley and Sir William H. Broadbent both spoke in support of the aims of the deputation. Mr. Birrell adopted the stereotyped form of reply upon such occasions. He had every sympathy with the desires of the deputation but he could not see his way to grant their requests. There was the spectre of the rates and he had received a deputation from ratepayers who did not share the views of the deputation which he was then receiving. All the same, every pressure would be put by the Board of Education upon local authorities to make such arrangements as they could. We have upon various occasions, notably in our issue of Feb. 24th, p. 536, and in that of April 21st, p. 1123, given the opinion that medical inspection is most desirable. As we said in the article referred to in our issue of Feb. 24th, the State compels parents to send their children to school, or at least to have them educa’ed, and this being so it is surely the duty of the State to find some way in which children attending school shall be prevented from being failures on account of their own ill-health or physical deficiencies or a source of danger to their fellows. In the course of the debate on the Bill during the same day in the House of Commons Mr. Tennant moved an amendment to one of the clauses to secure compulsory medical inspection of the children. Mr. Birrell said that he was in the He was willing to put down hands of the for the report stage an amendment to the following effect: "It shall be the duty of every local authority to provide for the medical inspection of every child on its application for admission to a public elementary school and on such other occasion as the Board of Education may direct or the local education authority may think fit." The matter will therefore be further discussed during the report stage of the Bill and we hope that in addition the question of the payment of the inspecting medical men will come up. Governments have a way of ordering people to send for medical men, without making any provision for the payment of the medical man sought for. An example in point is the Midwives Registration Act.
and Ireland. Some months ago a Russian gentleman took his place in the programme ; he was over eight feet in height; he was huge in every respect excepting the cranial or brain. containing part of his skull which was of very ordinary pro. portions. His face was massive and very placid ; his voice was sepulchral, but he was so obstinate and suspicious in nature that he absolutely refused to be examined or measured. At the present time three very remarkable individuals are being shown. They are supposed to be representatives of a native race of America (Mexico ?) which is now almost extinct. No history can be obtained beyond the fact that the German gentleman who now guides their destinies discovered them ir Germany whither they had been brought from America by a citizen of the United States. They provide, therefore, a very interesting problem for an enterprising physical anthro’ pologist. The cranial parts of their heads are uncommonly small ; the determination of the exact size of their brains is a matter for Professor Karl Pearson, but from measurements made of their heads their brain weights may be estimated to range between 500 and 600 grammes, considerably less than half that of the average individual. Their heads have the typical microcephalic form. Their skins are rather deeply pigmented-a brown tint, but the pigment is peculiarly superficial in deposit and apparently not permanent. The sex in each case is probably female but the breasts are not developed ; the palates are narrow and vaulted ; the state of their dentitions shows them to be under 20 years of age. The colour of the iris scarcely matches the complexion of the skin and indicates a very close relationship with one of the lighter-haired European The hair is tied in a bush-like mass on the crown of races. the head, thus emphasising the peculiar smallness of the skull ; the coiffure is one which we do not remember to have seen before in a native race. Their manners are polite and easy; they shake hands in the approved European fashion ; in fact, it must be concluded that their native manners have been entirely replaced during their short stay in Germany. They speak no language and the only words which they seem to understand belong to the German form of speech. As will be seen from the brief account just given, these "representatives of an almost extinct native race" are of interest not only to students of anthropology but also to those of human nature. ___
PRESERVATIVES IN MILK.
glad to see that the Local Government Board is the attention of the authorities who are responsible drawing for the administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts to the fact that the use of preservatives in milk is not a sine q1u), non to the trade. The Board, in a circular recently issued, states that in certain boroughs in London and elsewhere in which samples of milk are systematically tested for preservatives, the presence of substances at any time of the year has been found to be exceptional and there is evidence to show that a very large number of milk vendors conduct their business without the use of antiseptics, even in those instances in which the milk comes long distances by rail. Proceedings instituted against vendors of milk containing preservatives have usually been taken under Section 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act. Conviction has followed, it being held that when the purchaser who asks for milk is supplied with milk plus a preservative he MICROCEPHALICS AT THE HIPPODROME. does not receive an article of the nature, substance, and FROM time to time the enterprising management of the quality demanded and is prejudiced thereby. The Board Hippodrome includes in its programme items which have suggests that analysts should record in their quarterly an interst not only for the morbidly curious but also for reports the number of samples of milk which have been the genuine anthropologi-t. Last year it secured a group examined with the view of ascertaining the presence of preof pygmies from Central Africa-a race never before seen in servatives and should report at once to the council concerned England ; they became an attraction for "society " and the the facts as to samples which proved on analysis to contair subject of an elaborate memoir (not yet published) by a an added preservative. It is further suggested that procommittee of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain ceedings should be taken in all cases where such a
House.
-
WE
are