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consequence, become one of the most pressing social problems
of the day, bound up as it is with the existence of evils of an
economic and social character in the industrial life of the nation.
The causes of infantile mortality are composite in character,
and require careful examination. These causes may be classified
into ante-natal and post-natal, or those affecting the life of the
child before and after birth. With regard to the first, the
physical condition of the parents is a matter of material consideration,
influencing as it does the viability of the unborn child.
This is at once apparent in the fact that a large proportion of
children born die in the first few weeks after birth. The health
of the parents, and especially the mother, is therefore a matter
of supreme importance. With regard to the second, or postnatal
conditions, these may be regarded as being more associated
with the suckling infant.
Broadly speaking, infantile mortality is due to three main
diseased conditions, dependent on either ante- or post-natal
causes, or both—
1. Prematurity, debility and atrophy.
2. Diarrhoea and convulsions.
3. Respiratory diseases (bronchitis and pneumonia).
Prematurity and debility are specially fatal in the first few
days of life, and diarrhoea from the fourth to the ninth month.
Respiratory diseases affect the child at any time during the first
year of life.
The inference to be drawn from a consideration of the
factors associated with infantile mortality is that a certain
proportion of these deaths is inevitable; that is, the children
are born prematurely and start life so handicapped that they
have not sufficient vitality to survive their new environment,
the result of ante-natal causes or causes acting through the
mother. The other diseased conditions, i.e., diarrhoea and lung
affections, are due to causes which are largely preventable,
such as unsuitable food, exposure, &c.