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53
1912]
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The infantile mortality during the year was lower than any hitherto experienced
in the Borough ; indeed, it approached a figure which might be almost
considered ideal in a large population such as that of Islington.
The records show that only 710 deaths of infants were registered in the
Borough during 1912, as contrasted with 1,033 in the preceding year. The
infantile mortality is not, however, gauged so much by the number of deaths as by
the proportion of those deaths to the total number of children born in a period,
for of course if there be few births there will naturally be fewer deaths. It
is, then, with great satisfaction that the Medical Officer of Health can report
that the infantile mortality rate was only 86 per 1,000 infant births. In 1911
the rate was 127, while the average rate for the five years, 1906-1910,
was 109, and of the five years, 1901-1905, 130. In 1910, the lowest
infantile mortality rate hitherto chronicled in the Borough was recorded
(95 per 1,000), but the rate in 1912 was as low as 86. A mortality rate
such as this must be considered satisfactory, although the rate to be
desired would be somewhat lower. Still, if it could be kept as low as that
now recorded, there would be very little to grumble at, for the great wastage
of infant life would have been greatly checked.
When it is recollected that the mean infantile mortality rate which
obtains here is 143 per 1,000 births, it may well be considered to be very good,
being 57 below it. Its most extraordinary feature is that not only
was it low for the whole year, but also for each quarter. Thus in the first
quarter it was only 87 per 1,000 births; in the second 86 per 1,000; in the third
81, and in the fourth 98. Another unusual and extraordinary aspect of these figures
is that in the third quarter, when the infantile mortality is very frequently as
high as 200 per 1,000 births—indeed, in 1911 it was 204—it was only 81.
During the last few years, however, some very low rates have obtained at this
season, for in 1910 it was only 67, and in 1907, 79; while in the quinquennial
period 1906-1910 it averaged 99. If Table XXXII. be consulted it will be found
that almost without exception the highest mortality has usually occurred in the
third quarters of the year, which is mainly due to the meteorological conditions
which prevail at that season. In 1912, however, nature stepped in and
afforded her kindly protection to the infants of this country. That this is
so locally is beyond cavil, because if the meteorological records that prevailed in
that year be consulted, it will be found that although in the first week of July