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113
Home Office asked for information to be obtained in each case
under no less than 32 headings, which of course necessitated a
good deal of questioning, and where this appeared likely to be
distasteful the inquiry was abandoned; it seemed better to lose
some statistical material, rather than run the risk of hurting
people's feelings. Aliens in North Woolwich were also omitted
from the inquiry.
The statistical material, which is of a decidedly elaborate
nature, has not yet been compiled in detail, and will be dealt
with in a future report.
The following figures, relating to the relative percentage of
breast-fed infants, and the number of deaths occuring in each
class are of much interest, and may be given at once.
Total eases investigated 182.
On first visit 153 were breast-fed.
2 „ mixed-fed.
20 „ hand-fed.
7 had died within 3 weeks of birth.
Omitting the 7 who had died—
= 11% hand-fed on 1st visit.
= 87% wholly breast-fed on 1st visit.
The first visit was made about one month after birth.
Of these 182, 20 died before the end of the first year, 46 had
removed and could not be traced, leaving 116 kept under
observation until the end of the first year of life.
Of the 20 who died, 8 were breast-fed on the first visit (but
five of these subsequently became hand-fed), 5 were hand-fed
on the first visit, and 7 died so soon after birth that the
nourishment they took was a negligible quantity.