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12
Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
Of a total of 1,432 deaths at all ages in St. George's, 744 occurred under five
years, which gives the large percentage of 51.8 of the total number of deaths. It is
well-known to specialists in children's diseases that "wasting" constitutes one of the
commonest causes of death among infants. Thousands of children die every year
in London simply because they are fed on food which they cannot digest, and which
acts as an irritant to the stomach and intestines.
The following are the most prominent Diseases causing the Infant Mortality under
One Year of Aae :—
TABLE IX.
Deaths 1892.
Deaths 1893.
Deaths 1894.
Deaths 1895
Diarrhœa
23
43
54
41
Tabes Mesenterica (bowel phthisis)
22)
58
16
37
10
38
27
51
Tubercular Meningitis, Hydrocephalus
20
10
12
10
Other Tubercular & Scrofulous Diseases
16)
11
16
14
Premature Birth
24
36
44
39
Convulsions
35
41
63
69
Bronchitis
45
50
44
40
Pneumonia
32
24
16
38
Dentition
21
14
22
35
Whooping Cough
11
20
29
30
Suffocation in bed
11
12
20
16
Debility, Atrophy, and Inanition
42
84
88
69
Other cases not specified or ill-defined
34
6
8
24
Total
336
367
426
452
From the foregoing list it is seen that "debility, atrophy, and inanition," is the
chief cause of infantile death in St. George's. This ill-defined group refers mainly
to chronic wasting disease, produced by malnutrition, which is again a consequence
of improper feeding. The infants fed on mother's milk for the most part escape these
fatal consequences, which chiefly affect children brought up by hand.
TABLE X.
Sanitary Area.
Estimated
Population
middle of
1895.
Persons
to an
Acre.
Annual rate per 1,000
living.
Deaths of
Infants
under 1
year of age
to 1,000
Births.
Deaths
from all
Causes.
Deathsfr'm
principal
Zymotic
Diseases
St. Saviour, Southwark
26,570
132
25.6
2.8
204
St. Olave, Southwark
13,065
103
24.1
2.4
209
Newington
119,358
185
24.1
3.3
202
St. George, Southwark
60,163
211
23.7
3.8
208
Bermondsey
83,861
135
22.3
3.2
163
Lambeth
284,883
71
19.6
2.6
151
Rotherhithe
40,713
53
19.2
2.7
150
Greenwich
175,183
49
18.9
2.7
154
Camberwell
252,737
54
18.3
2.5
164
Woolwich
42,768
37
17.4
1.7
152
Battersea
165,130
71
17.4
2.7
175
Plumstead
61,494
9
15.1
2.5
133
Wandsworth
185,956
18
14.8
1.3
133
Lee
38,832
23
14.5
1.4
141
Lewisham
82,410
15
14.4
1.5
132
London
4,392,346
58.8
19.7
2.6
165