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42
1908]
The 142 smaller towns also were fortunate in their infant mortality, for
in them it was as low as 110 per 1,000 births, as compared with 122, 154, 132
and 138 in the preceding four years.
In the Rural Districts, too, as one might expect, the mortality was also
small, the deaths being at the rate of 110 per 1,000 births.
From these figures it is clear that the Islington mortality was due to no
special effort in the Borough itself, but rather to conditions which prevailed
almost universally throughout the country. Consequently we have
to look to the meteorology of the year to find the real cause of fhe low
mortality.
That there is a very close relationship between the two is acknowledged
by every inquirer into the causes of deaths among children in the early weeks
or months of their lives, and this was shown very conclusively by the Registrar-General
in the comments he made in his annual summary for 1907 on the
infantile mortality of London. The fact is that the low death rates among
infants have been due to meteorological and telluric conditions, and not to anything
that has been done in Islington for the prevention of infantile mortality.
Islington, like other places, has shared the benefits which the climatic conditions
have afforded.
The Registrar-General discusses this matter as follows:—
"Between the periods 1841-50 and 1891-1900 the crude death-rate
"at all ages had fallen in London by over 20 per cent., but no such
"corresponding reduction could be recorded in the proportion of deaths
"of children under one year of age, the ratio to total births having been
"fairly constant in each decennium. It will be seen, however, that since
"the beginning of this century the rate of infantile* mortality has, with
"fluctuations, shown an appreciable decline. In the year 1907 the deaths
"of infants under one year of age belonging to London were in the pro"portion
of 116 per 1,000 births, as compared with 131 in the year
"immediately preceding, and with 147 the average proportion in the ten
"years 1897-1906. The rate in 1907 was lower than that in any other
"year on record; this was mainly due to the showery and exceedingly
"cool summer experienced in that year. If the proportions in the several
"quarters are compared with the respective decennial averages it will
* In discussing the same subject with respect to England and Wales the Registrar General
writes in his Annual Report for 1907, p. xxxviii:—
"It will be seen, however, that since the beginning of this century the rate of infantile
"mortality has, with fluctuations, shown an appreciable decline. It is a fair assumption that
"this may, in part, be due to the increasing attention the subject of the waste of infant life has
"received from all classes of the community ; but at the same time it should be pointed out
"that the country has recently experienced a series of seasons favourable to infant life; for
"example, the showery and exceedingly cool summer in the year under review checked the rise
"in the mortality from diarrhœal diseases that usually occurs in the third quarter of the year in
"a remarkable manner,"