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From diarrhœal diseases there were 120 deaths, or 25.5 per
1,000 births, compared with 21.8, 47.8 and 40.0 in the three
previous years.
There has been but little variation in the last four years in
the number of deaths from wasting diseases, a group which
includes premature birth, atelectasis, and congenital malformation
together with atrophy and debility, since the majority of deaths
from the latter occur in the earlier weeks of life, and are due to
ante-natal causes. In 1908 196, or 36 per cent. of all the deaths
of infants under one year of age were attributed to these
diseases, which is about the same proportion as in London and
the other great towns.
14 infants were suffocated while in bed with other persons,
or 3.0 per 1,000 births, the corresponding death-rate in the
County of London being 3.2 per 1,000.
The Children Act, 1908, which comes into force on April 1st.
1909, provides that where it is proved that the death of an infant
under three years of age was caused by suffocation whilst
the infant was in bed with some other person over sixteen years
of age, and that that other person was at the time of going to
bed under the influence of drink, that other person shall be
deemed to have neglected the infant in a manner likely to
cause injury to its health within the meaning of the Act.