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under one year old, to all the births, is more satisfactory still,
as it was only 15.3 per cent. against 17.1 per cent. for all
London, and 19.2 per cent. for seventeen large towns. In
Liverpool no less than 26.9 per cent.; Leicester, 24.1 per cent.;
Newcastle, 22.3 per cent., and Sunderland, 22.2 per cent. of all
the children horn, died during the first year of life. Of course
neglect of Sanitary measures is hy no means the chief cause of a
great infant mortality, as want of proper nourishment, warmth,
and care are more injurious to infant life than even the absence
of Sauitary appliances. The proportion of mothers who go out
to work, leaving the infants to the care of young children or
neighbours, with nothing but milk and water or thin gruel,
which is sucked from a stinking bottle, is not so great here or in
London generally as in the manufacturing districts, although it
prevails in London to a considerable extent. The infant mortality
here ought not therefore to be so great as in these localities,
but 1 do not think that there should be so great a difference
even after allowing for all the causes of death which I have
mentioned.
The mortality for Hackney was at the rate 219 per 10,000
inhabitants, which although the highest since 1866 was only 1
per 10.000 inhabitants in excess of that for 1869, and singularly
to say, the annual rate for all London was 247 per 10,000 in
1871, against 246 in 1869 and 265 in 1866, so that the public
health of the district still continues far above that of London
generally. In making this calculation I have included the
deaths in the German Hospital, but excluded those in the City
of London Union. The annual rate of mortality for the Northern
districts was as high as 256, and of the Eastern districts 262
per 10,000, so that Hackney is exceptionally low in its mortality
when that of the surrounding districts is considered.