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from each disease; and thirdly, the broad fact, which is of so much
importance, that the deaths of infants mainly occur in the first few
weeks of life. The deaths of infants are not distributed uniformly
throughout the 12 months. Nearly half of them occur in the first
three months, and if that trimester be again subdivided it will be
found that more than half occur within the first 4 weeks of life. In
point of fact, of the 206 deaths in the first quarter of the twelve
months, as many as 147 (or 34.4 per cent. of all the infant deaths)
occurred at or in the first month, and 68 (or 15.9 per cent. of all
the infant deaths) in the first week.
When we turn to the causes of the deaths we see that certain
diseases produce death at different periods of the twelve months
Prematurity, of course, in the first trimester; and the same applies
to marasmus, bronchitis, convulsions, and suffocation in bed.
Epidemic diarrhoea is usually more marked, on the other hand, in
the second and subsequent trimester, and the same applies to
pneumonia, tuberculosis, and whooping cough.
(b) Condition of the Home.—It is interesting to observe that a
somewhat higher percentage of one-room homes and a somewhat
lower percentage of clean homes occur in the table of infant deaths
than of births. But it is not marked, and it is evident that these
conditions are not playing a chief part in the death of infants.
The following table sets out the more important facts in respect
of the 374 dead infants:—