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Table F—lnfantile Mortality.
Year.
Bermondsey.
Rotherhithe.
St. Olave's.
Whole Borough.
London.
No. of
Deaths.
Rate per
1000
Births.
No. of
Deaths.
Rate per
1000
Births.
No. of
Deaths.
Rate per
1000
Births.
No. of
Deaths.
No. of Deaths.
Rate per
1000
Births.
Rate per
1000
Births.
1897
605
190
154
183
219
174
67
891
21,106
158
485
157
13.2
1898
220
169
47
752
158
21,931
166
1899
574
187
215
169
53
147
842
180
22,129
166
120
1900
526
186
243
205
48
817
185
20,730
158
1901
497
170
215
176
42
132
754
148
169
19,412
159
1902
455
174
149
49
153
678
156
18,478
139
1903
428
153
179
160
50
176
657
156
16,978
130
477
1904
173
187
173
59
163
723
172
18,600
143
1905
422
146
164
145
45
170
631
147
16,324
129
408
1906
115
170
156
46
178
624
155
16,307
130
Average for
years
1897 to 1906.
164
199
152
737
478
168
51
166
19,199
147
125
144
96
501
14,114
1907
335
130
22
125
116
The accompanying Table shows a large fall in the infantile mortality over the previous
year. This can be largely explained by the summer being much colder and somewhat wetter
than the summer of 1906. Apropos of this the following remarks are quoted from the report
oil the metropolitan water supply for December, 1907: —
The year 1907 will be remembered less for its beautiful Easter and delightful
September than for its cold, wet and inclement summer. The remarkably high and low
barometric readings in January and February respectively, the June like weather in March,
the fall of snow in April and late in June, the low temperature (seven degrees below the
average) in May, the inclemency of the weather in July and August, the wet and unpleasant
month of October and the dull, mild and foggy month of November, are matters of interest,
if chiefly of a depressing kind.
As regards the rainfall, the following remarks by Dr. Hugh Robert Mill are of great
interest (p. 230, Symons's Meteorological Magazine, No. 504, Vol. 42): —
The general rainfall for the whole of the British Isles comes out as 1 per cent. above
the average, which for all practical purposes may be taken as the average, exactly the
same as in 1906. The year 1906 was generally considered to be dry and fine, because the
holiday months were dry, and 1907 has generally been stigmatised as wet and wretched,
probably because in most parts of the country, as in London, there were a great many days
with rain, and, perhaps, because a larger proportion of the rain than is usual fell in the
daylight hours. Both years, however, practically coincided with the average, a result that
has never previously been recorded.
While there is no doubt that the meteorological conditions of the year under
report were favourable to infantile life, they will scarcely explain the whole reduction. The
principal share in this was due to the fewer deaths from diarrhoea and enteritis. This
decrease is very satisfactory as far as it goes, but one cannot help feeling that it may be of
a more or less temporary character, since an examination of Table F. shows that there has been
a considerable amount of fluctuation during the last ten years. London itself shows a
considerable decrease, so that Bermondsey still retains the position of showing a much higher
infantile mortality than that of the Metropolis. As remarked above, diarrhoea accounts for the
largest reduction, as there was only one-third of the number of deaths which occurred in the
previous year. There is also a reduction under the heading of "Atrophy, Debility and
Marasmus," also in pneumonia, and smaller reductions in many other causes of death. There
is, however, a considerable increase in the number of deaths due to premature birth and
congenital defects, the figures being for 1906, 74, and for 1907, 105.
There is no doubt that in London generally, and to some extent in Bermondsey, the
recent propagandism regarding the proper method of infantile feeding may be beginning to
have some effect. One is certainly tempted to hope so; and should a low infantile mortality
continue in spite of varying meteorological conditions, one will be quite safe in coming to the
conclusion that our efforts have not been in vain.
The very fact of the fall from a high infantile mortality in 1906 to a comparatively low
one in 1907 being so large and so sudden makes one suspicious that it is mainly, if not entirely
due to some cause over which we have no control, such as the weather, rather than to any
alteration in the habits of the people.
The customs and ignorance of generations are not going to be overcome in a single year,
and it will take many years of training before the mothers of the poorer classes have acquired
a sufficient knowledge of the hygiene of child life to produce a marked and permanent lowering
of the infantile mortality.
I hope to see before very long a permanent and still greater reduction, but much requires
to be done before we arrive at that stage.