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While improved sanitation has reduced the death rate in London from
21.2 per 1,000 in 1881 to 16.6 in 1904, the deaths of children under one year
of age per 1,000 births, which were 148 in the former year, reached almost the
same high proportion, viz., 146, in 1904.
It is now well recognised that this heavy infantile mortality is due to
ignorance on the part of the mothers as to the danger incurred by injudicious
feeding, and the efforts now being made in the direction of educating women,
especially those of the poorer classes, in the proper manner of rearing their
offspring during the first twelve months of their existence will, it is hoped,
remove what is now undoubtedly a blot upon our civilization.
A Table is given on page 15 showing the deaths of children in the City
during 1905 under one year, arranged according to monthly age periods.
PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS.
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS IN PARIS.
In July last, at the invitation of the National Association for the
Prevention of Consumption and other forms of Tuberculosis, your Medical
Officer was appointed as delegate to represent the Corporation at the
International Congress on Tuberculosis which was held in Paris, October
2nd— 7th, under the patronage of the President of the French Republic.
The meetings of the Congress were held within the above-mentioned dates,
at the Grand Palais, Avenue d'Antin, Champs Elysées, under the Presidency
of Dr. Herard.
The work of the Congress was divided into four sections, of which sections
1, 2 and 3 respectively dealt with the Medical Pathology of Tuberculosis,
the Surgical Pathology of Tuberculosis, and the Prevention and Treatment
of Tuberculosis in Children, while section 4 was separated into two subsections,
of which one considered the Prevention and Treatment of
Tuberculosis in Adults, and the other was devoted to Social Hygiene.
The fourth section was the one possessing most attractions for those
interested in public health questions. The following resolutions were passed
by this section, after a discussion on the part played by sanatoriums and
dispensaries in the struggle against Tuberculosis:—
1. It is permissible to discuss to what degree dispensaries and sanatoriums are
useful or necessary according to the customs, the institutions, and resources of each
country, but the principle involved must be recognised.
2. They constitute a means of action which cannot be considered either as exclusive
or predominant; dispensaries open to all have for their essential objective
prophylaxy, hygienic education, and the relief of distress. They can also become a
valuable source of information. The popular sanatoriums are establishments