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dirt-stained; women who at one and the same visit combined the
operations of scrubbing the floor and giving vaginal douches to
the mothers. None of them had nailbrushes, none washed the
mothers' genitals before, during, or immediately after labour.
In two instances these neighbour nurses waited for an hour or
more after the babies had been born before obtaining medical
assistance. Meantime the children had not yet been separated
from their mothers, who were passing motions into the bed, fouling
themselves and the infants. Nursing of this deplorable
character by these wretched present-day representatives of Mother
Gamp should almost be accounted for criminal negligence and
treated as such in a Court of law.
In Finsbury, every case is investigated by the Lady Sanitary
Inspector. The premises are visited, the sanitary defects are
ascertained, and made the subject of subsequent notice for amendment.
The rooms are disinfected.
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM.
This is the inflammation of the eyes that is apt to occur in the
newly-born, and which, when severe and intractable, is nearly
always associated with the presence of venereal disease in the
parent. Seventeen cases were notified in 1914; but there is
reason to believe that many of these were cases of simple
conjunctivitis. The children were all visited from the Public
Health Department, and the mothers were instructed how to carry
out the treatment advised by the doctors.
DEATHS AND DEATH RATES.
The number of Finsbury residents who died in 1914 was 1,636,
equivalent to a crude death rate for the whole Borough of 19.6 per
1,000 inhabitants living. The crude death rate for the whole of
London was 14.4 per 1,000, and the corrected death rate 14.4 per
1,000.