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45
The deaths and death-rates from diarrhœa for the year 1906, and the death-rates for the period
1901-5 in each of the sanitary areas of London, are shown in the following table:—

It will be seen from the foregoing table that the diarrhoea death-rate was in the period 1901-5
highest in Shoreditch (1.31) and lowest in Hampstead (0.19); in the year 1906, Poplar (1.71) had the
highest death-rate, the lowest again obtaining in Hampstead (0'26). The diarrhoea death-rates in
London in each of the four quarters of the year 1906 were as follows:—first quarter, 0.14; second
quarter, 0.17; third quarter, 2.96; and fourth quarter, 0.49 per 1,000 persons living.
The mean temperature of the air during the summer quarter in 1906 was 2'8 degrees above the
average, that during the summer quarter of 1905 having been 1.3 degrees above the average. The London
death-rate from diarrhoea which, as will be seen, was governed in the main by deaths under one year of
age, was higher than in 1905, being 0.94 in 1906, and having been 0.72 in 1905. This higher death-rate
was manifested in each of the sanitary areas except those of Stoke Newington, Hackney, the City and
Greenwich. The annual reports show that by far the greater number of deaths occurred among infants
who were hand-fed. Thus, in Finsbury 77 per cent. of infants under one year who died from epidemic
diarrhoea were fed on cow's milk; in Bermondsey, of 415 children of this age dying from diarrhoea only
63 were breast-fed, 309 were otherwise fed, and 43 were fed by both methods. The condition of the homes
in which deaths occurred is stated in some of the reports to be not open in the majority of cases to especial
criticism, but in a few reports mention is made of the absence of proper larder accommodation for the
storage of milk. Thus Dr. Dudfield, writing of infant deaths from diarrhoea in Kensington, says : ' In
30 of 65 hand-fed cases the milk used had been kept in the rooms occupied by the family; in 7 cases
in a passage or wash-house—and had been usually uncovered and exposed to contamination by dirt,
flies, etc." The experience of the year in Finsbury led Dr. Newman to the conclusion that the fact
of mothers going out to work had little or nothing to do with the deaths, and that antecedent weakness
or ill-health did not predispose the infant to attack.
The system instituted in Woolwich in 1905, of voluntary notification of the first case of diarrhoea
occuring in a family in July, August and September, was continued in 1906, and 366 cases were thus
notified, of which 46 died, or 13 per cent. Dr. Davies compares the death-rate of Woolwich with that of
London in the periods 1901-4 and 1905-6, and shows that in the former period (without notification)
the Woolwich death-rate was 2.30 and the London death-rate was 2.27, whereas in the latter period
(with notification in Woolwich but not in London) the Woolwich death-rate was only 2.13 and that
of London 2.64.
Erysipelas.
The deaths from erysipelas in the Administrative County of London registered during 1906
(52 weeks) numbered 245.
1 See footnote (2), page 7.