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24
The rate for 1907, it will be noted, was 109; 6 per 1000 below
that of 1908, and was the lowest ever recorded in Finsbury. Part
of the reduction in 1907 was undoubtedly due to the existence of
weather conditions favourable to infants. The year 1908, on the
other hand, was one generally regarded as unfavourable, inasmuch
as the summer and early autumn months were hot and dry, conditions
conducive to epidemic diarrhoea, one of the most fatal of infantile
complaints. Notwithstanding this, the rate was only 6 above that of
the favourable year, and was as much as 22 per 1000 below the figure
for 1906, a year more comparable, so far as weather conditions were
concerned, with 1908 than was 1907.
Another point to which attention may be directed, in connection
with the above table, is that, as the figures from 1901 stand, there
seems to be a tendency for a drop to occur in the rates in each
alternate year (the odd numbers), while a rise occurs in the intermediate
(even-numbered) years. Looked at in this light, a rise
was to be expected in 1908, and has indeed occurred, but to a much
lower level than in any of the preceding " rise " years.
The conclusion justifiable from the figures given above, as well
as from those in the next table—which contains what may be called
the “corrected” infantile mortality rates—is that there is distinct
evidence of reduction in infantile mortality. This, it is perfectly
obvious, is not due entirely to weather conditions, but partly also
to the measures of sanitation, general and special, adopted and
carried out in the Borough.
The second infantile mortality rate is that which has been called
above the “corrected” rate. It is calculated on the same number
of deaths (400), but on a different number of births, viz., what is
believed to be the actual number occurring to Finsbury people. This is
obtained by deducting from 3,474 the number (631) occurring in
the City of London Lying-in Hospital to patients from other
districts, and adding to the number left, births occurring outside
Finsbury to people actually residents in the Borough. The total
number of Finsbury births obtained in this way is 2,916, and the
infantile mortality rate, calculated on 400 infant deaths and 2,916
Finsbury births in 1908, is 137.