Goitre in School Children

I HE incidence of simple an(i sporadic goitre has been studied in many parts of world, with the object of finding causes of the condition, and if possible preventi them from becoming serious in later life by early recognition and treatment. interest has beeni takeln in the subject from early' times. Dr. S. I. Turkin remarks in hiis historical survey of medicine, that when Johni Evelyn rode over Simplon on his way from Padua to Londloni, he noticed a people writh large we and he quotes 'T'acitus on the point, thus showing that the Romans had noticed condition 1,500 years earlier. It has since been investigated in the so-called goil GEOGRAPHICAL1 DiSTRIBUTION. The wvork of Kerzman2 in Switzerianid is well known. He found fifty-eight cent. cases in boys and sixty-seven per cent. cases in girls in schools. His wo was followved up in New Zealand by Herctus and Baker.3 They compared t inicidence in inilancd and coast districts, and found(an average of 60.9 per cen enlarged thyroids in 14 916 children in Canterburv' ancl on the west coast. (The were fewer cases on the sea-coast.) In England Dr. Percv Stocks4 made a critical analysis of the results carried o by six hundred sclhool medical officers, who examiniedl 375,022 children in differe parts of the country. He suggests that a gauge should be used to measure tb thyroids of childlren aged 11 to 14 years. He found the incidence was low on tb sea-coast (.7 per cent. in boys and 2.9 per cent. in girls) with exceptions on th south-wxest coast, and it was high in some rural areas. He thinks that an aver normal value would be of one per cenit. in boys and four per cent. in girls. Hi suggestions have been carried out as far as possible in this paper, and much th same results were fotund. In Caniada Dr. Griffith Binning5 made a survey of simple goitre in April, 1934 in Saskatooin Public Schools. He found 718 cases, or 12.3 per cent., in 5,8 childrell age(d 6 to 24 years. A great number of these were in children aged 9 11 years, an(I thev became larg,er ancd more prevalent as the children grew older The greatest number of moderate cases were seen at the age of thirteen. He collected data as to age, sex, race, and social position, and he consider race and social position to be …