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11
instance of the general improvement that we have
shared in with the rest of the country generally during
the year.
When we include, as is most generally the custom,
the 37 deaths attributed to premature birth (a rather
high proportion of the infantile deaths) we find that
our true infantile mortality figure, 140.3, is still a high
one. It means that roughly one out of every seven
children born does not reach the age of one year.
The drain on the population that this loss
represents is a serious matter, and every effort made
by a sanitary authority to reduce the number of these
deaths is a direct addition to the nation's assets.
The causes tending to an excessive infantile
mortality will be alluded to in detail under the
various diseases that contribute to it. But here it may
be stated broadly that ignorance on the part of the
mothers as to (a) the rudiments of hygiene, and (b) the
proper feeding of infants, plays the chief part.
To a great extent the State, through its system of
education is responsible for this ignorance.
Large sums of money are spent yearly in a more
or less successful effort to drive an increasing amount
of theoretical knowledge into the heads of the children
of our working classes.
A real benefit is conferred by this method on the
infinitely few whose mental gifts are high—the infinitely
many suffer deeply in the process. They are given
something which, in the various callings they come to