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27
The loss of infant life in the district as a whole is a serious
matter, and it should be not forgotten that from the report of the
County Medical Officer of Health for 1900 it appears that the
Urban District of Barnes occupies in this respect a position less
creditable than 30 of the 34 districts into which the administrative
County of Surrey is divided.
The only districts with a less creditable record are Ham,
Richmond, and Wimbledon. Ham is so small that its statistics
are of no value; and the difference between the infantile mortality
of Richmond and Barnes is a fractional percentage only.
I am unable to agree with the opinion frequently expressed
that this heavy mortality is due to neglect by mothers working in
laundries and market gardens, for the simple reason that in none
of the many cases that have come under my personal observation
did this factor obtain.
I attribute the heavy infantile mortality of Barnes and
Mortlake very largely to the germ-laden condition of the milk
offered to babies, much of which is supplied by "purveyors of
milk"—some of them itinerant and from a distance—over whose
proper cleanliness there is little real control.
I am not aware of any milkshop in the district in which
there is a proper place for the storage of milk during the summer
nights, or from which milk in a fresh condition can be obtained
after certain hours.
Table III. gives the number of cases of infectious disease
notified during the year. The number is greater than last year,
the increase in the notifications of Diphtheria alone being 50.
The cases of Scarlet Fever were 3 less and those of Typhoid
7 more than in 1900.