View report page

those who are able to provide their infants with proper milk.
The absence of such a diet is, perhaps, a more powerful agent
in the destruction of infants than all the others combined.
Without any special measures being directed against
the reduction of such mortality, beyond that mentioned below,
there were over two hundred fewer deaths in Camberwell of
such infants during the past year, a result which will compare
not unfavourably with those boroughs who have adopted
special measures in the way either of health, visitors or
municipal milk depots, etc. In those boroughs, however, who
have adopted any special plan, allowance must be made for
the short period during which they can have been in force, for
even if they should be producing an especially good effect,
such is not likely to be seen for two or even more years.
Having regard to the number of deaths during the early
weeks of life the Committee advised the purchase of some
thousands of copies of a pamphlet on infant feeding by Dr.
Helen Sergeant, and, failing the co-operation of the Registrars,
their distribution through the agency of various teachers who
had volunteered to help in such work. Considering the
ignorance that exists on the subject among all concerned, together
with the practical certainty of a great number of deaths
being due to improper feeding, the distribution of the booklets
should have a good effect, provided that parents will read and
carry into effect its maxims.
The deaths from the diseases classed as zymotic compare
very favourably with those of 1904, there being a decrease
in nearly all, which is in some instances very marked.
There are three exceptions, one being influenza, in which there
were eight more deaths than in the preceding year, these being
almost entirely those of adults and they were fairly evenly
distributed over the whole of the Borough, St. George's district
being the least affected. A disappointing increase is shown
in the case of puerperal fever, which, in spite of well considered
and organised attempts to prevent its occurrence by
means of attention to cleanliness in the widest sense of the
word, has shown just double as many deaths as in 1904.
It is in diphtheria that the most marked changes have
taken place from the early days of notification. In 1893, for
instance, the number of deaths amounted to 118, the population
being considerably smaller than it is now. In the last