Medical inspection of schools / by A.H. Hogarth.

  • Hogarth, A. H. (Archibald Henry), 1877-1919.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical inspection of schools / by A.H. Hogarth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION Medicine the Science of Health.—-Importance of Preventive Medicine not generally Recognized.—Evil Results of Industrial System of Nine¬ teenth Century.—Policy of Laissez-Faire.—Educational Progress more Apparent than Real.—National Bill of Undischarged Obligations.— Mental Deterioration.-—Backwardness of England as a Nation.—Is Education the Panacea ?—Medical Inspection of Schools the First Step.—Two Courses: (1) Suicidal Policy of Laissez-Faire; (2) Adminis¬ trative Activity.—Both Courses involve Equal Expenditure. The proverbs of every race and country are a national possession, the heritage of succeeding genera¬ tions. The more fallacious are quoted on all sides with apparent reverence. Others containing germs of truth are neglected. Of such a kind is the maxim that ‘ Prevention is better than cure ’. It is on every one’s lips almost from childhood, but its principle— remarkably true—is ignored by all sorts and conditions, the rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant. ‘ Medicine ’, wrote Plato more than two thousand years ago, ‘ is the science of health ’. To-day it is popularly regarded as the science of disease. But had the truth of Plato’s dictum been recognized, some Government department of preventive medicine would long ago have been established in our midst; and we should be in the habit of paying for medical attendance only while we were actually maintained in good health, B HOGARTH