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22
51 belonged to Mile End Old Town, or at the rate of .45 per 1,000 of the
population.
33 belonged to the Whitechapel District, or at the rate of .49 per 1,000
of the population.
The death-rate for the whole Borough was .63 per 1,000 of the population.
Summer Diarrhoea is believed by many to be an infectious disease, caused by
a specific micro-organism, and is capable of spreading from the sick to the healthy.
By what means this infection is spread during the summer months it is impossible
to say, but there is no doubt that milk is an important factor in spreading the
infection. Infants artificially fed are more liable to suffer from Diarrhoea than
breast-fed infants, and are more likely to die when they have contracted the illness.
The number of deaths of infants from Diarrhoea is very low compared to the
number in 1911. The Summer and Autumn of 1912 were wet and cold, while those
of 1911 were dry and hot. What is it that causes this high infantile mortality?
Is it the excessive heat or the dry weather that cause it ?
The two do not always run together. It will be seen in the accompanying
table of deaths from Diarrhoea in 1911 and 1912 with the meteorological conditions,
that the temperature in 1912 did not reach the week's average until the second
week in July, and that the number of deaths of infants under one year of age
during this week was the same as in the corresponding week in 1911. This was the
only week in which the average temperature of the week was higher than in 1911
cxcept the weeks ending October 5th, November 2nd (when the number of deaths
was again the same as in 1911), the second week in November, and the third week
in November when the deaths exceeded in number those in the corresponding week
of 1911. Although the average week's temperature was higher in the second week
in July, the week ending October 5th, and the week ending on November 23rd, the
total rainfall was also higher in these periods. The reverse was the case in the
weeks ending on November 2nd and November 9th, when the rainfall was less in
1912 and the temperature higher than in 1911.