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the diarrhœa deaths I made personal inquiry at the home as to the
nature of the food supplied to the infants who died, and of about
106 deaths I was able to get exact information. Thirteen of these
were alleged to have been breast-fed at the time of death. Fiftyeight
had been bottle-fed for some time previous, while 30 had
been brought up on artificial feeding from the time of birth, the
material used being artificial food or cow's milk in a nearly equal
number. Under ordinary circumstances the proportion of breastfed
to bottle-fed babies must. I think, be certainly higher than this,
so that once again is noted what has been so frequently shown
before, namely, that there is a relatively severe incidence on this
latter class. It is not usually a desire to avoid giving the natural
food that leads to its non-supply, but the failure of milk supply in
the mother. It may also happen that the mother has to supplement
the natural food because she has to go out to work. This, however,
works both ways, for the mother that goes out to work is able to
provide better food for herself, and, indirectly, for her infant, and
although she has to supplement natural means by those of artificial
character the results are better, for want is a predominant factor in
diarrhœa as it is in infantile mortality generally. It was in the
week ending August 12th that the numbers reached their maximum
both for diarrhœa and enteritis, 25 being certified as due to the
former and 12 to the latter. Comparing these figures with the
births recorded for the Wards we get a result pretty well what we
should expect, the greater the number of births the more available
material there is for the diarrhœa poison to work upon.
The Local Government Board on August 18th sent down a
letter calling attention to the greatly increased mortality from
diarrhœa, containing recommendations on feeding children and avoiding
contamination of foodstuffs, and suggesting a suitable leaflet to
prevent the accumulation of decomposing matters and street and
stable scavenging. The letter also called attention to the advisability
of enlisting the help of the health visitor in obtaining early information
of the cases of infantile diarrhœa, and the necessity for early
treatment. At a meeting of the Emergency Committee, held on
August 23rd, a Bill was ordered to be printed, and special instructions,
as advised by the Board, were given to the Sanitary Inspectors
the next day to temporarily devote their chief attention to the
removal of insanitary accumulations, the clearing out of dust-bins,
and the regular flushing of gullies and sewers. At a later date a
communication was received from the Board containing a copy of
a letter addressed to it by a member of this Council, of which the
following is a copy
26, Camden Grove, Peckham. S.E.,
August 22nd, 1911.
Dr. Newsholme, Local Government Board.
Sir, —I was glad to read in the daily press that the Local Government Board
has issued a circular to Sanitary Authorities suggesting certain lines of action in
summer epidemics.
Unfortunately, the circular in likely to be of little or no effect in Camberwell.
The circular recommends leaflets and personal visits to mothers of babies under