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47
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
From all causes the rate was highest under one week and
lowest at ii to 12 months.
Table XXVII. shows the infantile mortality per 1,000 births
from all causes and from certain causes for the whole Borough
and for each sub-district.
From Premature Birth the rate was lowest in Tooting and
highest in Clapham, from Developmental diseases highest in
Putney and lowest in Streatham, from Diarrhceal diseases highest
in Tooting and lowest in Putney, from Measles and Whooping
Cough highest in Wandsworth and lowest in Tooting, from
Respiratory diseases highest in Tooting and lowest in Putney,
from Tubercular diseases highest in Streatham and lowest in
Clapham, and from other causes highest in Putney and lowest in
Clapham.
An examination of all the Tables dealing with infantile mortality
and especially with Table XVIII., which gives the rates for
the year and for the decennium 1899-1908, shows that in no year
has this mortality been so low. In Tooting, which had during the
decennium a rate of 152 per 1,000, the rate was only 98 in 1909,
and this is lower than the rate in any of the other sub-districts
during that decennium.
To put this in another way : if the rate during the year 1909
had been equal to the rate in the previous decennium then the
number of deaths would have been 852, or 251 more.
This enormous saving of infant life has been the result of
various agencies which have been at work in the Borough.
First the climatic conditions were unfavourable for the production
of Diarrhoea and other digestive troubles in infants. The
temperature remained low till the first fortnight in August, and
there was more than the average amount of rain and less than the
average amount of sunshine. This weather was inimical to fly
life, and in every part of the Borough it was noticed that the
number of house-flies was less than usual.