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39
the name of the person recommending that application should be
made. The reasons given were as follows:—
No breast milk, or an insufficiency of
milk 88 or 66.5 per cent.
Death or illness of mother 23 „ 17.5 ,, „
The breast milk not agreeing with the
infant 12 „ 9 „ „
Infants unable to suckle, or similarly
defective 4 „ 3 „ ,,
The mother at work 6 „ 4 „ „
133 „ 100
As to recommendations: of the 133 children admitted during 1908,
62, or 46 per cent. were recommended by doctors or St. Bartholomew's
Hospital; 30 or 23 per cent. were recommended by neighbours;
13 or 10 per cent. were recommended by sanitary inspectors; 19 or
14 per cent. were mothers returning with succeeding children; 9 or 7
per cent. were sent by the relieving officers, or the district nurse.
Apart from inquiring as to the reason for applying to the depot
and the source of the recommendation, inquiries were made as to the
circumstances of the parents, the occupation of the father and mother,
the number of the child in the family, its condition at birth, and
the method of feeding in use. An attempt was made also to obtain
information as to the health of the mother before and during pregnancy,
and since the birth of the child.
Some of the facts elicited, deserve special mention. With regard
to the circumstances of the parents, for instance, it was found that,
judged from the neighbourhoods from which they came, and the
number of rooms occupied, the majority were poor; 34, or 26 per
cent., had one room only, and 60, or 45 per cent., two rooms. The remainder,
amounting to 29.5 per cent. had 3 or more rooms.
As to occupation, it was found that 47.5 per cent. followed definite
trades: 7.5 per cent. were shopkeepers, 12 per cent. were labourers,
and 2 per cent. were carmen. The remaining 33 pea cent. were oddmen,
postmen, soldiers, policemen, porters, and so on.