reau of the New York Municipal Research, reports that in 415 villages
of New York State, 12 per cent of the children living there were found
to be mouth breathers. Whenever a child is unable to breathe through his
nose, is slow in talking, and then speaks with a stuffy accent, calls
"nose" "dose," has a narrow upper jaw, and is either deaf or has
inflamed eyes, it is practically certain that enlarged tonsils and a
well-developed growth of adenoids are present and should be removed. Not
merely do these growths interfere with the mental and physical
development of the child, but they also make him more susceptible to
contagious diseases, particularly those of the lungs and bronchial
tubes.

[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Schoolgirl with adenoids.]

The removal of adenoids is a simple operation, lasting not over a
minute, and the result of the operation is in some cases almost
miraculous. The medical inspectors of the New York City schools consider
the removal of adenoids as a most important part of their work, and
groups of children are regularly taken from the schools by the principal
to the clinic at the hospital, where one after another tonsils are cut
off or adenoids are removed, all fright and commotion being avoided by
the gift of five cents as a reward.

_Eyes._

Another evidence of advancing knowledge in matters pertaining to
sanitary hygiene is shown in the greater attention given to the eyes,
particularly of children. Such incidental troubles as headache,
sleeplessness, or biliousness are frequently due to weak or strained
eyes, and in the case of school children a great deal of the alleged
insubordination, backwardness, and truancy of the children is caused by
their being unable to see written instructions or explanations.

It is not likely that this increased difficulty with the eyes is a new
thing, but rather that both physicians and laymen are more careful as
well as more expert in diagnosing the trouble. The New York State Board
of Health in the fall of 1907 sent out cards for testing the eyes of
school children to 446 incorporated towns. The results of using these
cards in 415 schools were returned and showed clearly that nearly half
the children of school age in the state had optical defects. A similar
test in Massachusetts recently discovered 22 per cent of the school
children with defective vision, and this knowledge in itself is an
advance inasmuch as it suggests to each individual or to all parents
th