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140
of deaths that occur during any given period less than a
year should be increased pro rata, when dealing with rates
for a year or period of years. It is assumed that the rates
that are found to exist for short periods would be maintained
during longer periods—an assumption that, in practice, is
found to be warranted. The infants who are placed upon
the Depot milk are, as a rule, unhealthy and below par
constitutionally, if not actually diseased, at the time of commencing
the milk, and the longer they use the milk, the
better their chances of life. Thus, of the 219 infants and
children brought to the Depot, 177 (i.e., 80.8 per cent.)
were wasting, moribund, or diseased, and of these 18 died
(i.e., 10.2 per cent.), whilst the remaining 42 (i.e., 19.2 per
cent.) were, though tabulated as "healthy," with few exceptions,
constitutionally below par, and of these 3 died.
If children die during the first month of taking the milk,
it would be misleading to assume that all children would
die at the same rate during the succeeding eleven months.
The most conclusive proof of the value of a Milk Depot,
in so far as the children fed are concerned, is to be found
in the medical histories of individual cases, when it can
be shewn again and again that infants who appear to be
moribund at the time of commencing the milk, actually
recover.
The causes of the 21 deaths amongst the Depot-fed
infants and children deserve attention, and may be tabulated
as follows:—Diarrhoea and sickness 9, pneumonia and
bronchitis 3, measles 1, whooping cough 1, marasmus and
inanition 3, tuberculosis 2, abscess of brain 1 and' convulsions
1.
The particulars of the 21 deaths are as follow : —