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86
1885, whilst only 1,425 females died out of 103,750, or one in
72.8, as against one in 74.4 in 1885. The deaths in the first and
fourth, or colder quarters, exceeded those in the second and third,
or warmer quarters, by 320 : in the six preceding years the difference
in favour of the warmer quarters was 240, 120, 355, 251,
132, and 22, consecutively.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The deaths of young children always bear a high ratio to total
deaths. In 1886 this ratio was lower than in some recent years.
The deaths under five years were 1,029 (545 in the first and fourth
quarters, and 484 in the second and third quarters), compared with
1,114, 982, 1,034, and 1,085 in the four preceding years; being
equal to 37'3 per cent, on total deaths, and to 24"8 on births
registered: the equivalent percentages for the whole Metropolis
were 41.7 and 25.7. Under one year of age the deaths were 636
(compared with 635, 601, 689, and 653 in 1882.3.4.5 consecutively),
and were equal to 23.0 per cent, on total deaths, and to
15'4 per cent, on registered births; the equivalent percentages
for the whole metropolis being 25'8 and 15'9.
The deaths of illegitimate children under five years of age were
104 (of which 92 were registered in the Town sub.district), as
against 114, 78, 80, and 86 in the four preceding years, and were
equal to 54.7 per cent, on births registered as illegitimate. Of these
104 children only 25 outlived their first year, and 23 died in the
second year of life. The causes of death, as registered, were
atrophy, debility, inanition, 29 ; premature birth, 4 ; tubercular
diseases, 26; zymotic diseases, 18 (diarrhoea, 8; measles, 8;
whooping.cough, 1; enteric fever, 1); brain disease, 2 ; syphilis, 3;
lung diseases, 8; convulsions, 8; wilful murder, 2; teething,
epistaxis, injuries at birth, and want of attention at birth, 1
each. Illegitimate children are commonly brought up by hand,
under the charge of strangers. The evidence of improper feeding.
and of the lack of maternal care is apparent enough in the above
iist of fatal diseases.