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55
Forty-two of these occurring in children under 1 year of age, and
many of these between 1 and 5 years of age are rightly attributable to
Summer Diarrhoea, and preventable.
The total number of these deaths is smaller and the death-rate less
than in previous years, and compares most favourably with Rural
England.
It is now recognised that want of breast milk and improper feeding—
including feeding with unclean milk—are mainly responsible for the
Summer Diarrhoea of infants. The measures adopted here and
carried out for some years against these, have been continued in 1908,
and leaflets on " Infant Feeding" were freely distributed.
Investigations were made in 1907 at Brighton as to the value of
breast feeding compared with the use of cow's and condensed milk in
the rearing of children, and the results obtained were very instructive.
It was shown that among 2,045 children fed by breast, or on cow's or
condensed milk, the deaths varied with the feeding, and the conclusion
come to was that ''it is twice as dangerous to feed babies on condensed
milk as on fresh cow's milk; that it is 40 times as dangerous to feed a
baby on cow's milk; and 70 times as dangerous to feed a baby on
condensed milk as on mother's milk."
With this knowledge no argument is needed to impress upon
mothers the necessity of suckling their children if they wish them to
out-live the dangers of Summer Diarrhoea.
Our death-rate from Diarrhoea was .30, compared with .50 in 1907
and .65 for the "76 Great Towns.''
MEASLES AND WHOOPING COUGH.
There were two deaths from Whooping Cough and 36 from Measles
during the year.
The deaths from Whooping Cough are the fewest recorded, and the
disease was at no time of the year prevalent; the greatest number of
children reported absent from school from this disease in any week was
34 in December.
Measles started in February in the northern and central areas, and
by July had invaded the north-east, east central, south-west, west,
and north-west districts, showing a gradual weekly increase in numbers
until the Midsummer holidays.