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In England and Wales the rate was 133, the lowest yet recorded, and 14 per 1,000 below
the mean proportion in the ten years 1896-1905.
In the 76 great towns of England and Wales (including London) the rate averaged 145 per
1,000. The rate in Rural England was 138 per 1,000.

The infantile mortality rate in London in 1906, the Registrar-General states, was 131 per
1,000. The average rate in the ten years 1896-1905 had been 151 per 1,000—131, 115, 210, and
145, in the four quarters respectively; the quarterly rate in 1906 was 115, 97, 187, and 122. The
reduction in 1906 as compared with the decennial average was 13 per cent.: ranging "from 11
per cent, in the third quarter, and 12 per cent, in the first quarter, to 16 per cent, in the second
and fourth quarters respectively." After distribution of births in the principal Lying-in Institutions,
and of deaths in all public institutions, etc., the average infantile mortality rate in the quinquennium
1901-5 was 137 per 1,000 in London and in Kensington 145. The RegistrarGeneral
points out that " the greatest loss of life usually occurs in the third quarter of the year,
excessive mortality at this period being associated generally either with high temperature, or with
deficient rainfall, or with these factors in combination." In 1906 the rainfall was markedly deficient,
only 3-5 inches having been measured, compared with an average of 6-8 inches, in the third
quarter of the past 36 years. The mean temperature of the earth at a depth of 42 inches was
62 Fahr. compared with 61-7 recorded in the summer of the preceding 36 years. It is satisfactory
to note, therefore, that the rate of infantile mortality (in the third quarter) although fairly high,
was below the average.
The Registrar-General states that " of the total deaths under one year of age recorded in
London in the year 1906, nearly 29 per cent, took place in the first month of life, a ratio that
was slightly below the average prevailing in the quinquennium 1901-1905."