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15
To the unusual conditions (meteorological) was due the immense
reduction in the infantile death-rate for 1903, therefore in the consideration
of this question, owing to the reason stated, that year
should be looked upon as exceptional, and not one that can be taken
as a basis for accurate comparison with other years, or as a standard
for infantile mortality.
It will be well in considering this question to take into account
two sets of figures.
1st. Those in which the deaths due to premature birth are
included, and
2nd. Those in which they are excluded,
the difference representing the pre-natal influences, which are not
nearly so much under control as the post-natal. Thus, allowing for
this difference, the infantile mortality rate would be 106 per thousand
births instead of 133.