London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Battersea 1907
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1907
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41
The following table shows the number of infants, some of
whom were already on the books of the Depot at the beginning
of the year :—
The following table shows the number of infants, some of whom were already on the books of the Depot at the beginning of the year :—
| Started. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1907. | During 1907. | |||||
| In Borough | Out of Borough | Total | In Borough | Out of Borough | Total. | |
| Still using Milk | 16 | – | 16 | 180 | 15 | 195 |
| Discontinued (including dead) | 149 | 12 | 161 | 224 | 22 | 246 |
| Dead | 7 | 1 | 8 | 38 | 3 | 41 |
| Total No. Fed | 165 | 12 | 177 | 404 | 37 | 441 |
| Total | 618 | |||||
gained in popularity, and this notwithstanding that no attempt
has been made to advertise, the institution relying entirely on
the cases sent for admission by the medical practitioners of the
neighbourhood, whose continued support should be accepted as
strong evidence of its success as a factor in the saving of infant life.
It is not possible to deal conveniently with more than 230 to 250
infants daily with the means at present at our disposal.
Although in the past a good many more than this number have
been dealt with, the results obtained have not been so satisfactory
as with our present number. Relatively speaking, during
the year 1907 the number of infants fed daily was better than
during the previous year, being more uniform. This was due
to the fact that in former years there was usually a considerable
increase in the numbers during the third quarter, owing to the
prevalence of epidemic diarrhoea. This increase during the
third quarter was absent during 1907, on account of the peculiar
climatic conditions which prevailed during the summer of that
year.