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101
cation were due to "overlying," 14 children under
1 year of age being killed in this manner. The
deaths are due to the practice of having the infants
in bed for the purpose of nursing, or to keep
them warm. The safer plan is to have the child in
a crib alongside the bed; but this is not always
possible, owing either to inability to meet the
necessary outlay or to want of space in the room.
If the child must be taken into the bed,
some frame, such as that used in Italy, should be
placed over it. In that country the fact of a child
dying through being overlaid is a disgrace to the
parents in the eyes of the neighbours, and brings
down on them the power of the Church as well as
that of the State. The law of this land
needs amendment to bring parents who kill their
children in this manner within its grasp. At
present they escape with nothing worse than a
reprimand from the Coroner for their "carelessness,"
when they should be charged with "culpable
negligence" and punished accordingly.
Of the 490 children who died at ages under 1
year in 1895, 51 were illegitimates, or 10.4 per
cent. of all the deaths at this period. The illegitimate
deaths were equal to a rate of 408 per 1,000
illegitimate births registered, compared with a
rate of 164 for all deaths at this age per 1,000
births, and to one of 150 from deaths of legitimates
per 1,000 legitimate children born. Six deaths at
B