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since 1911 are shown in table 6, page 16. The following diagram illustrates the
contraction in the fatality of infants since the years 1911-14:-
The increase in deaths assigned to congenital malformations is partly attributable
to changes in classification following the adoption of the 5th revision of the International
List of Causes of Death which added about 12 per cent. to the deaths which
would formerly have been assigned to this group. For most diseases there has been
a dramatic reduction in mortality over the last forty years, and, even since 1927, the
improvement is substantial. Since evacuation disturbed the normal biennial
sequence of epidemic outbreaks the incidence of measles in London has been comparatively
light and this partly explains the low mortality, but there has also been a
striking reduction in case mortality in recent years, not because the virus is less
virulent but as a result of " improved nutrition together with other widely operating
hygienic advancements " (a). Diarrhoea and respiratory infections too are now less
(a) Butler, Lt.-Col. W. — J.R.S.S. 1945, 108/259.