SUMMARY.
The results obtained from the experiment may be summarized as follows:
1. Six months after operation for adenoids and tonsils, there seems to
be a slight but not very reliable gain in weight as the result of the
operation. After twelve months this has increased; indeed, it has very
nearly doubled.
2. Gain in height, resulting from operation, is so slight as to be
unreliable. This gain does not increase during a second period of six
months.
3. The height-weight-age relationship is an excellent measure of the
physical well-being of the child. The figures expressing this
relationship show no very reliable gain in the first six months, but
improvement increases considerably during the second period.
4. The test group shows no gain over the control group in strength of
grip. There seems on the other hand to be a slight loss; which does not
decrease in amount during the second period.
5. Speed of tapping did not increase during the first period, any more
for the test group than for the control. During the second period,
however, there is a marked improvement.
6. Operation for adenoids and tonsils does not lessen fatigueability as
shown by the tapping test. The probability is, however, that the test is
at fault.
7. No rise in I.Q., as a result of operation, makes itself evident after
six months or after twelve months.
8. There is no improvement in the performance of the Healy test either
after six months or after twelve.
9. In every test except grip and tapping, there is a marked increase in
the variability of the gains after the second period. This is possibly
due simply to the fact that the longer interval permits the
intervention of more extraneous factors which may influence the scores
in one direction or the other.
10. A group of 236 children with diseased tonsils showed equal
distribution of I.Q. with a group of 294 children who were normal in
this respect.
CONCLUSIONS
The article by MacPhail, which has been reviewed in a former chapter,
showed pretty conclusively that the removal of adenoids and tonsils was
followed by improvement in school work. That such improvement was not
due to a rise in general intelligence can be concluded from the present
experiment. That efficiency in school work does not rest wholly upon
intelligence has been demonstrated more than once. The tendency here
noted to improve in general physical tone may, perhaps, serve as a sign
of the factor upon which such improvement depends. Improved health means
better attention, better emotional response, greater resistance to
fatigue, and probably increased efficiency.
Interesting investigations of such improvement in efficiency might be
made by administering educational tests to groups similar to those of
the present study. The results of such an experiment would be
exceedingly instructive, and would be more significant than conclusions
drawn from school marks. By this means also we might determine along
what special line efficiency is most affected.
Since there was no recuperation in intelligence resulting from operation
for adenoids and tonsils, it is reasonable to expect that there had been
no retardation from which to recuperate. This supposition is borne out
by results of the statistical study, wherein we found that a group of
children suffering from diseased tonsils possessed equal intelligence
with a group which was free from such defect.
We can say to physicians, then, with fair amount of assurance, that
removal of adenoids and tonsils will probably not raise to any great
degree the intelligence level of the mentally defective child who is
brought to him. We can say to students of the constancy of the I.Q.,
that it is not greatly lowered by adenoids and diseased tonsils and we
may say to the clinical psychologist that these defects have no
demonstrable effect upon general intelligence, whatever effects they may
have on volitional and emotional normality,--the two elements which,
along with intelligence are necessary for the maintenance of the
individual as an instrument of social efficiency.