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27
The last of these conditions which I have discussed, and
which at present is beyond our control, is the question of
Insurance. This question is again very closely connected with
poverty, and assumes an importance only in poor districts. The
expenses of a funeral falls very heavily on a poor household,
and were it not for the insurance money, it might involve the
family in a debt that would take a considerable time to liquidate.
The other conditions that may possibly be improved I will
first briefly enumerate, and then discuss more fully in giving the
different diseases that they are responsible for.
1. Insanitary Dwellings.—By this term I do not mean
that the conditions which exist are ordinary, and remediable in
the usual way. Many houses are insanitary by reason of their
position, and can never be rendered sanitary except by the
clearance of adjoining sites or other structural alterations.
2. Improper Feeding.— During the siege of Paris, the infant
mortality was reduced to one-half of the average it had been for
several years, though the ordinary death-rate had doubled. This
was due to the mothers being obliged to suckle the babies, on
account of the scarcity of milk and other food.
Improper feeding may be sub-divided into—
(a) Starchy food.
(b) Sour milk—condensed and otherwise.
(c) Unsuitable and dirty bottles.
(d) Germs from diseased cows.
Bronchitis, Pneumonia, and Broncho-Pneumonia.—Of the 65
deaths that 1 enquired into, 16 of the families had moved, 32 of
the children were brought up on the breast, and 17 artificially.
These diseases in infants have several causes; but undue
exposure, draughts and insufficient clothing are the chief. There
is nothing worse than to take an infant of a few months old to a
conccrt, theatre, or a music-hall, and then from that hot and
crowded room to expose it to the cold night air. This happens
oftener in the East End of London than in the better-class districts.
With regard to the clothing, I cannot understand why
women dress their new-born infants in robes of such length and
shape that he is utterly incapable of using the muscles of his