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(d) Poverty, with its consequent overcrowding,
foul air and partial starvation.
(e) And last, but not least, the feeling of misery
and hopelessness which drives women to
drown their sorrows in drink.
(a) The first of these unfavourable influences, the
employment of pregnant women, was the chief subject
of discussion at a largely attended conference on
infantile mortality at the Home Office in January last.
The law at present forbids the employment of women
in factories and workshops for a period of four weeks
after childbirth, but it is silent as to the employment
of pregnant women. It is well known that severe or
prolonged exertion and especially the use of pedal
sewing machines is injurions to pregnant women, also
that working at certain dangerous trades which
involves the handling of poisonous materials, (e.g.,
lead), is very apt to cause them to abort; but beyond
these broad facts there is no definite statistical
information available as to the effect upon motherhood
and childbearing, of employment in factories
during pregnancy. The Home Office Authorities
propose that each Medical Officer of Health throughout
the kingdom shall, during the year 1908,
investigate the births taking place in his district with
a view to ascertain the nature and duration of the
employment of the mothers both before and after
confinement; subsequent enquiries are to be made as
to the method adopted for feeding and rearing the
infant, and by a second and third visit the condition
and health of the child at the ages of six and twelve