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46
60a. In the Summer Quarter of 1911, there were 110
deaths from Diarrhoea and Enteritis, 81 of these being
under two years of age. If the deaths at all ages are
taken, the Diarrhœa death-rate was 3.64. This is a
higher rate than any year since 1904, when it was 4.52.
Considering that the average temperature of the 3 ft. ground
thermometer in the summer quarter of 1904 only exceeded
the average of the past ten years by 2°, while last year it
exceeded this average by over 4°, it was to be expected that
the Diarrhœa death-rate would have been much higher in
the latter year. In London as a whole this was the case.
If the death-rate in Woolwich last year had been in the
same proportion to the London rate as in 1904, it would
have been nearly twice as high as it actually was. The
only known factor which can account for the low deathrate
in Woolwich compared with London is the notification
of Zymotic Enteritis; this notification and the steps which
it enabled to be taken may be said to be mainly instrumental
in saving the lives of some 100 persons. But probably
both in Woolwich and the County, last summer, far the
hottest summer on record, would have experienced a much
higher Diarrhœa mortality but for the employment of Health
Visitors, and other measures for instructing the poor and
ignorant in the care and feeding of infants. Such measures
are now carried out in most Metropolitan Boroughs. They
have been perhaps longer employed and more effective in
Woolwich than in most other parts of London, and thus have
had a considerable share in producing the comparative
exemption from Diarrhœa mortality of our Borough.