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INFANT MORTALITY.
The Infant Mortality of any district is said to be an indication
as to its healthiness; and no doubt in many country districts
this is so, but in London and our large provincial towns there
are many other causes that play important parts in the
deaths of infants of tender years other than insanitary surroundings.
It is much to be deplored that in the advance of
civilization in the nineteenth century that out of every 1000
births in London there should be 182 deaths of infants under
one year of age, in our own district the rate is 150 per 1000, the
causes of this alarming state of things is I believe principally
due to social causes, such as early and improvident marriages
and consequent ignorance and carelessness in nursing, especially
in improper feeding, as in the present day so many mothers
never make any attempt to bring their children up per "via
naturales" and therefore the deaths from Diarrhœa, Convulsions,
etc., are due in a great measure to the artificial methods of
feeding employed. One cannot help being struck with the
number of Inquests that take place in young children whose
deaths are proved to be from overlying, starvation, etc., and
other preventable causes.
INQUESTS.
Inquests are generally held on persons that have died
suddenly without medical attention either from accidental
causes or otherwise. The methods of conducting these enquiries
have lately much improved, and instead of being held in Public
Houses as previously they now invariably take place in Public
Buildings such as Vestry Halls; Coroner's Courts are provided
in some districts for that purpose, and in this manner the dignity
of the enquiry is much enhanced, and the friends of the deceased
are treated in a better manner than having to be huddled up on
a wretched staircase of a Public House waiting to be called in to
a room used as a Court that frequently reeked with stale
tobacco smoke and other odours. Another matter connected
with inquests is the objectionable practice of having to view the
bodies; whilst some jurymen are callous and do not mind this,
others are more sensitive, both at private houses and mortuaries,
when it is at the latter place the method might be much improved;
there is no reason why the viewing could not take place
through a glass partition, and so allay any fear of infection that
might exist through too close a contact with the bodies. In
our own district negotiations are pending as to providing a
Coroner's Court and Mortuary, and I trust before my next
report the matter will have been settled satisfactorily; at the
present time the Coroner is using the Vestry Hall for holding
his Courts.