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56 MORTALITY IN CHILDHOOD.
(Groups II. and III.) than the annual averages for 1907.11, but more from the others. The
most notable increase last year was in the number of deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia
(40 deaths, average 30). The deaths of females included in each group were all below the
averages.
The mortality rates (see below) are to the same effect. For males, the greatest difference
from the average is in the " Other Causes " (Group V.).

Premature Birth-The deaths returned as due to this cause numbered last year 58
(35 of males and 23 of females), or one more than the average. Ten of the infants (9 males
and 1 female) were illegitimate children. Nine of these deaths occurred in twin-births (5 males
and 4 females). At two of such births both infants died. In 23 instances the duration of
gestation was recorded in the certificates, an analysis of such records being as follows:-
Duration of Gestation. Males. Females.
6-7 months 3 1
7-8 , 8 6
8-9 „ 5 -
Diarrhœa.-Last year 54 deaths at all ages were entered as due to "diarrhœa and
enteritis," as compared with 151 in 1911, 52 in 1910, and 38 in 1909. The average annual
number of deaths during the five years 1906.10 was 66. The mortality rate-per 1,000 persons
of all ages-was 0.38 in 1912, 1.05 in 1911, and 0.36 in 1910, the average rate for 1906.10 having
been 0.46. The following tabulation of quinquennial averages points to a lowering of the
mortality from "diarrhœa," independent of the influence of the cooler summers of later years.

That conclusion is not vitiated by the experience of 1911, as the mortality recorded in that
year-quite an abnormal year as regards temperature and rainfall-was 105, against 1.53
recorded in 1899, when the meteorological data approximated to those of 1911. The mortality
rates at all ages recorded last year in the Wards (see below) were in every case below the rates
recorded in 1911, and, except in Church, Lancaster Gate, West and East, Wards, below the
averages for 1906.10.

The chief interest in the ''diarrhœal diseases" lies in their incidence on children under
2 years of age, especially during the summer months. Of the 54 deaths recorded last year,
46 deaths occurred at ages under 2 years, 15 (5 of males and 10 of females) from "epidemic