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115
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
four months, one at six months, one at 10 months, and one at
11 months respectively; three were due to Marasmus at two,
three and four months; and six from other causes (two beingtwins)
at ages ranging from three weeks to six months.
"In addition to those infants who died from chest and
lung diseases we found many ill with Bronchitis, Whooping
Cough and severe colds; we were, in fact, struck by the
prevalence of these complaints amongst infants, particularly
during the latter part of the year. 44 were found to be
suffering from Bronchitis and Pneumonia, 11 from Whooping
Cough, and 25 from very severe colds.
"Of the 2,268 infants visited only 56 were premature
(Putney three, Balham three, Tooting eight, and Wandsworth
42); of these, eight died (Tooting two and Wandsworth
six). 28 were delicate from birth (Clapham two,
Balham nine, Tooting 12, and Wandsworth five), and of
these, six died, four in Tooting and two in Wandsworth, the
latter being twins.
"Again we found difficulty in keeping in touch with the
illegitimate births. Two wrong addresses were given, one in
Tooting and one in Southfield, two removed immediately
after confinement, one in Tooting and one in Springfield ; and
four died previous to our visit. Of the 43 visited (Clapham
four, Putney two, Balham three, Tooting 18, Wandsworth
16), 12 came into the Borough for confinement only (Balham
two, Tooting seven, Clapham one, Wandsworth two), the
majority leaving the children to be nursed here. At the first
visit 15 were wholly breast fed (Clapham one, Putney two,
Tooting three, Wandsworth nine), and at the second visit
seven (Balham two and Wandsworth five), one in Wandsworth
having discontinued cows' milk and biscuit. Ten had
removed when the second call was made and could not be
traced. Two only of those visited died, one in Tooting from
Atrophy and Pertussis, aged two months, and one in Wandsworth
from Diarrhoea, aged three months, the latter being an
exceptional case referred to in the Diarrhoea report. Of the
43 illegitimate infants, two born in Wandsworth were premature,
and four in Tooting were delicate from birth.