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83
The figures opposite the heading "Survivors" show the percentages
of infants fed in five different ways during the first 18 months
of their lives, and are based on euquiries made into the feeding of
280 children of the poorer classes in Finsbury; 132 of these infants
were 9 months old at the time of the enquiry, and 148 had attained
the age of 18 months. Thus 280 children were ascertained to have
survived for the first 9 months of life, and are represented by the
percentages for the first three age periods, whilst the percentages
for the last two periods deal with the smaller number of children
who were visited at the age of 18 months. The investigation has
made it possible to establish what may be described as an average
incidence of death on infants grouped according to the manner of their
feeding. It is apparent that if all the infants in a community are
breast-fed, 100 per cent. of infant deaths must occur in breast-fed
children. If 50 per cent. are breast-fed and 50 per cent. are bottlefed,
and if the feeding of an infant has no effect on its chances of
living or dying, then the infant deaths will necessarily be equally
divided between the naturally and artificially fed In other words
the percentages opposite the heading "Survivors," which show the
proportion of children fed in different ways, may also be taken as
representing the average distribution of deaths which would obtain
amongst these children, were feeding a negligible factor in the
causation of death.
For purposes of comparison, the deaths from Diarrhœa and from
"All other Causes" in former years have been placed immediately
over the numbers representing an average distribution of deaths.
During the first three months of life 80 per cent. of 280 children
were fed on breast milk alone, whilst 20 per cent. received some
form of cows' milk, so that the infant population of Finsbury under
the age of three months would yield 80 deaths in breast-fed children
for every 20 deaths in those brought up by hand if the death rates
in the breast-fed and artificially-fed populations were the same.
From the Table it appears that the deaths from diarrhœa in breastfed
children under three months constituted only 24 per cent. of
the total, whilst the remaining 76 per cent. were deaths in the
artificially-fed, that is to say the deaths amongst the artificially-fed
were nearly four times the number that ought to have occurred, on