Excerpt from Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England: Abstracts of 1873 The deaths of children under one year of age, chiefly from premature birth, debility, whooping-cough, convulsive diseases, and diarrhoea (the latter disease often being brought about through bad feeding), contribute largely to increase the general rate of mortality. Of the deaths registered in England in 187 3 no less than or 25 per cent. Were those of infants, and this high proportion is greatly exceeded in the large towns. It is gratifying, however, to know that the causes which lead to the regrettable high rate of mortality among children are now receiving full attention from the medical officers of health. Sanitary measures are meeting the ravages of diseases so destructive to childhood, and when the Artisans Dwellings Act comes into operation these officers will be enabled to condemn unhealthy areas, but the unwholesome atmosphere in neighbourhoods that must almost of necessity remain comparatively densely populated, the want of sufficient space round the dwellings of the poor, the absence of proper maternal care in the large manufacturing districts, and other causes so prejudicial to the rearing of children over which the health officer has less control - all these still tend to keep up a high death-rate at the ages under 5, and he will be the greatest sanitary reformer of his age who can most successfully combat the unnatural surroundings which are so prejudicial to childhood in town populations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.