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44
these deaths are due to definite overlying. The deaths all
occurred in the poorest districts. Eleven took place in Clerkenwell,
2 each in Margaret Street and Noble Street; 9 in St. Luke's,
2 in Gee Street. Three of the children were illegitimate.
Inflammation of the Navel.—Three deaths were ascribed to
this condition—the infants were under a fortnight old.
Just as in some parts of the country the friends and neighbours
of a sick person like to be asked and expect to be ordered
to prepare a poultice whatever the malady, so in the poorer
parts of London, when a child is born the mother-in-law, the
grandmother or kind neighbour in attendance often looks upon
the care of the navel as her own special perquisite. So that when
the student in charge of the case calls in the usual way the baby
is already washed and dressed, and it would be some little trouble
to undress it preparatory to examination. The consequence is
that the infant's condition, and especially the state of the cord
and navel, may not be correctly ascertained.
Now the offices of the friend or neighbour are well meant—
she takes a piece of reputedly clean rag, burns a hole in the
centre, draws the cord through, and wraps the rag around it
to await events. The intention is good, the service is a kind
one, but the effects may be disastrous—her surgery and her
ideas of surgical cleanliness are primitive and dangerous.
Preventable Deaths.—Among the preventable causes are the
deaths due to Measles, Hooping Cough, Diarrhœa, Pneumonia,
Bronchitis, Suffocation in bed with parents, Venereal Disease,
and, in part only, Premature Birth and Marasmus.
Assuming that the preventable causes could be really prevented,
and that of the partly preventable 20 per cent. could
be averted, this means that in this year 195 babies died who
should have survived. What then are the reasons that stand
in the way of this consummation? The answer is ignorance—
chiefly parental ignorance, and in some measure thoughtlessness,
carelessness, and the stress of poverty.
Infant Deaths in previous years.—The number of infant
deaths and the infant mortality rates for the period 1901-1910,
arranged according to districts, are given in the annexed table :—