Page:Labour and childhood.djvu/27

 three and sixteen in the Hanwell district school, which receives the children of the poorest class from Southwark and the City of London. Of the children examined, 341, or only 34 per cent, had normal ears and hearing, and 449, or 45 per cent, were suffering from adenoids in some form or other.

Then there are the victims of eye-disease—a great army. Some of them suffer from what is known as "blight"—a word which expresses very well the sad appearance of the tearful dim eye and its red and powdered lids! Some have what is called "pinkeye," a contagious eye disease, as is "blight." Taking the children in the standards, an average of 10 per cent have bad vision. In one of his later reports Dr. Kerr mentions about a dozen eye-diseases found in the school-children of London. Many of these need skilled medical treatment. But a great many cases yield to simple hygienic treatment.