View report page

mortality of childhood. 51
during the year was 4.3, while 33.0 per cent. of the families had lost children, the deaths
being equivalent to a rate of 185 per 1,000. That figure does not represent an annual
mortality, but the force of mortality spread over an unknown number of years.
Mortality among Children visited.—Of the 2,478 children noted for visits during the year
194 were dead when these figures were put together, 110 of the deaths occurring among the
381 children who were not, and 83 among the 2,000 who were, visited. To mark the
incompleteness of the mortality rates obtainable from the figures just given, it is desirable to
style them fatality, and not mortality, rates. The total of 194 deaths may therefore be said
to represent a fatality rate of 78 per 1,000 infants, the corresponding rates among the unvisited
and visited infants being 289 and 42 respectively. Information as to the method of feeding
of 15 of the infants visited was not available. Such deaths have in consequence been
treated as occurring among breast-fed children, giving 54 deaths among such children (1,603),
as compared with 14 among those entirely fed bv hand (240), and 15 among those on a mixed
diet (157), Those numbers represent fatality rates of 33, 58 and 95 per 1,000 children
respectively.
Of the children visited during 1908 (1,956) 151 died before they attained the age of one
year, giving an infantile mortality of 77 per l,000. There is such a remarkable difference
between that rate and those reported among the children visited in 1907 and 1906 (viz., 42
and 47 per 1,000 respectively) that it is suspected that a change must have been made, quite
unconsciously, in the collection of the data. There is some foundation for such suspicion in
the fact that the total infantile mortality has decreased in each of the three years mentioned.
The percentage distribution of the principal causes of death, according to the recorded
method of feeding, brings out with great clearness the advantage of breast-feeding. (See
below). It will be noted that among such children the greatest mortality is due to the
"common infectious diseases" and "respiratorv diseases, "whereas among children who are
artificially fed, either entirely so or in combination with the breast, "wasting diseases" and
"diarrhœal diseases" prevail. Both the latter classes of disease may be said to be incidental
to the method of rearing, except as regards premature birth and congenital defects, which
causes of death are included in the group "wasting diseases."

Infant Consultations.—The Health Society's Consultations were maintained in full activity
during the past year, the attendances totaling 1,440. At the North Centre 135 children were
in attendance, of whom 116 were newly admitted during the year. The 135 children
attended 666 times. At the South Centre 168 children were seen, 139 being new cases, with
a total attendance of 774, From personal observation it can be stated that the improvement
manifested in many (apparently) hopeless cases has been very striking. There can be no
doubt that the Consultations are of very great value. It should be added that medical
treatment, in the usual sense of the words, is not given at the Consultations, only advice as to
the best method of feeding and as to maternal care of the children. The deaths of 11 of the