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1ll
the loss in London alone is impressively testified to by the following
facts: During the week which ended on July 22 the deaths of children
tinder one year of age numbered 173, and there were 41 deaths of
children between one and two years of age, and the subsequent weeks
show a tragic progression:
Week ended Under 1 year. 1 to 2 years.
July 29 304 73
August 5 462 101
August 12 636 138
August 19 705 155
August 26 712 143
2,819 610
The solution of the problem of infant mortality is to be found in
the circumstances surrounding the life of the mothers of the poorer
classes, and especially of the poorest class which is fighting year in
and year out against destitution and want. 1 have often noted that
with many such mothers their greatest need is not advice and instruction
bv health visitors so much as some practical assistance so as to
make a possibility of what they already realise to be the proper thing
to do.
OPHTHALMIA IN THE NEWLY-BORN.
This disease, which accounts for a large amount of preventable
blindness, was made compulsorily notifiable by the London County
Council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, in March,
1911. Arrangements were made by the County Council that cases of
inflammation of the eyes in the newly-born, which are notified to the
Medical Officer of Health for the County Council by Midwives, shall
be visited in the first instance by the London County Council Inspectors
under the Midwives Act, when if hospital treatment is urgently
necessary the Inspectors will take immediate steps to obtain it. The
name and address of each case is then sent to the Medical Officer of
Health of the Borough in which the case occurs, so that subsequent
supervision and advice may be supplied locally.