Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/670

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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

forward the nurse gently but firmly pulls down the eyelids while the doctor administers the necessary treatment. A few of the little ones are afraid and need much encouragement, but most of them think it a -fine chance to be brave boys and girls. The whole thing takes but a minute, and the child then makes room for its companions, the whole line thus moving on out of the door again.

Only the more serious cases of trachoma are operated on, but for this the equipment of the hospital is perfect. Though the operation itself is quite a severe one, the patients are gener- ally confined but twenty-four hours, entering the hospital in the morning, being operated on in the afternoon, and discharged the following morning. Furthermore, up to the end of April, not a single child who had been operated on for trachoma had returned to the hospital. And, although it is too soon as yet to predict with certainty, all signs seem to point to the success of the new operation.

The following table shows the number of old and new cases of trachoma treated at the hospital since its opening in Decem- ber until the end of March :

Months

Old Cases

New Cases

Operations

Total

December, 1 902 ...........

1.4 1 2

076

127

2. CIS

Tanuarv. loot.

6,272

I 720

487

8 470

February

6,441;

2.077

4QC

0.017

12,683

2.1J78

270

I7.O2S

The maximum number of cases treated in a single day was 899 on March 16, 1903.

To sum up, then, the leading features of the school inspection work, we should say that these were :

(1) The prevention, not the cure, of contagious diseases.

(2) The educative effect on the children and parents, by indirectly teaching them the necessity of cleanliness.

(3) The "squad" system, and the consequent gain in time and the increasing thoroughness of the inspection.

(4) The cordial co-operation between the inspectors and the school-teachers.