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and 1906, which had warm summers, and high diarrhœa mortalities, the
rates of infantile mortality were 155 and 140 respectively, although in
point of heat the summers were much less trying than in 1911. It
seems more certain now, with the experience of last year as a guide, that
the visits of the health visitors to the homes of the working classes, and
more especially the attention paid to the newly-born infants, and the
advice and practical assistance given to the mothers, is bearing fruit in
the direction of saving the lives of many infants who would formerly
have died before reaching the end of their first year. This saving of
life is undoubtedly accompanied by a saving of health to many infants
who formerly suffered in physique and strength as the result of
preventable illness.
The rates of infantile mortality prevailing amongst different sections
of the working classes vary enormously according to habits and modes of
life (see Table VII.). In well-housed communities, where the population
is practically one selected for steadiness, thrift and sobriety, 95 per cent,
of the infants born may survive the first year of life; whereas in the
streets inhabited by the more improvident and less steady grades of
working people only 85 per cent. survive the first year of life.

The above Table shows the infantile mortality rates in the five wards
of the Borough. The births occurring in the Chelsea Workhouse and
in other maternity institutions have been distributed amongst the various
wards. As the populations of the wards under the recent census are
not yet known, it has been impossible to give the Ward birth-rates, as
in previous years.
From Table XV. (Local Government Board Table V.) it will be
seen that out of a total of 139 deaths of infants under one year of age
in 1911, 38, or 27.3 per cent., occurred in the first 4 weeks of life, as
compared with 38.3 per cent, in 1910. Twenty deaths occurred in the
first week of life, equal to 14.4 per cent, of the total, the corresponding
figure for 1910 being 24.1. The majority of these deaths in the first
month of life are due to premature birth, congenital defects, and inability
to take nourishment. For deaths under the month the rate of mortality
in 1911 is 31 per 1,000 births, as against 39 in 1910, the average rate
for the 6 years 1905-10 being 40.