vious year. Dr. John Taylor was appointed medical inspector, and for his convenience in conducting the work he was provided with an office in the High School building, and the following articles were purchased: A cabinet for record cards, adjustable gas lamp and mirrors for examining ears, noses and throats, nasal and ear specula, stethoscope, scales, measuring rod, tape measure, test types, test worsteds, wooden tongue depressors, set of tuning forks, glass dishes and towels. The duties imposed upon the medical inspector by the Board of Education consist of two wholly distinct lines of work; first, the detection of communicable diseases among the pupils, and, second, the examination of pupils for the purpose of recording from year to year the degree of physical development attained in the case of each pupil. The following blank cards are used by the medical inspector in making his records, each card measuring four inches by six inches, and being permanently filed in the card-cabinet before mentioned: Asbury Park Public Schools. DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL INSPECTION. The medical inspector will visit the school buildings each day at 10 A. M. ill. This card should then be sent to the doctor's desk. This card is to be filled out by the teacher when any pupil appears to be A supply of these cards is placed in the hands of each teacher, and pupils are sent to the inspector from time to time as the following table shows. The inspector visits his office in the school building at ten o'clock every morning as nearly as possible, and, by messenger, summons any children for whom cards have been delivered at his desk, and these cases are then disposed of (1) by returning pupils to the class-rooms when the illness is of a trivial nature; (2) by sending the child to his home with a notice drawing attention to the need of medical care, as in urticaria, &c., and (3) by excluding the child when the illness is found to be communicable. It should be noted that before any child is excluded from the schools the facts relating to the case are first reported to the superintendent, and no action is taken until his approval is given. Following is the form of the card used in notifying parents in cases of communicable diseases: Asbury Park Public Schools—Medical Inspection Department. ....19... Dear Sir: Symptoms of illness have appeared in the case of and you are advised to place the child under the care of your family physician. When the child returns to school a physician's certificate, showing that recovery has occurred, should be furnished. Very respectfully, .M.D., Medical Inspector. The annual examinations for learning the growth and development of pupils are conducted in the afternoon from time to time, as the convenience of the medical inspector permits, and it has been found that when an assistant is present to write the record, five children can be examined in one hour. Following is the form of the blank card used for recording these examinations: From the first annual report of the medical inspector of schools of Asbury Park the following extracts are taken : "A complete physical examination of the children in the kindergarten was found impracticable because of their age, but a card has been filled out for each pupil in the kindergarten, giving the name, age, general condition and date of vaccination. The examination of the throat and naso-pharynx of some of the older children who were extremely nervous has been omitted. The following tables have been compiled from the records now on file in the office of the medical inspector: Number of visits made by medical inspector to school building, for detection of communicable disease (total number of school days, 175)... Number of physical examinations made Number of reports received from teachers 172 ............ 641 45 The following table shows age, number of pupil of each age, and the average weight The general condition of pupils was found to be as follows: Anæmic, 149; well mourished, 403; robust, 89. One case of Pott's disease of the spine was discovered. Cutaneous diseases were found as follows: Ichthyosis, 1: acne, 6; pediculi capitas, 2. |