INFANCY IN THE CITY. 683 



the United States census which embraces the researches and experi- 

 ments with American trees. This report, one of the most valuable of 

 its kind from the great amount of statistical information contained in 

 it, has been made with specially painstaking care ; the distribution of 

 American trees, the determination of their specific weights, their 

 chemical composition in regard to mineral constituents (ashes), their 

 commercial value, their strength, elasticity, and resistance, form the 

 contents of a large volume. Compared with the figures obtained by 

 Professor Sargeant, the wood of European forest-trees appears to be 

 somewhat inferior in quality to that of American trees. The Bavarian 

 Government, which on its 24,000 square miles of territory has over 

 7,000 square miles of forests, of which over 3,000 square miles are in 

 solid masses, under a model administration of the Government, yielding 

 about four per cent net profit, is wide awake for improvements, and 

 has sent me to this country to investigate as fully as possible the facts 

 about the growth of American forest-trees, their relation to the cli- 

 mate, and their yield of timber in quantity and quality. With their 

 usual liberality and hospitality, the American authorities and learned 

 men have lent a helping hand, truly worthy the spirit of a great nation 

 not influenced by petty considerations of a possible rivalry. 



INFANCY IN THE CITY. 



bt grace peckham, m. d. 



ACCORDING to Quetelet, " there die during the first month after 

 birth four times as many children as during the second month, 

 and almost as many as during the two years that follow the first 

 year, although even then the mortality is high. The tables of mor- 

 tality prove, in fact, that one tenth of children born die before the 

 first month has been completed." 



The census has shown that the mortality of infants in cities is twice 

 as great as that in rural districts. In New York, in 1883, 28,972 chil- 

 dren were born, and 8,668 died in their first year, thirty-three and one 

 fourth per cent ; 2,660 children died in their second year, 1,221 in 

 their third year, 787 in their fourth year, and .525 in their fifth year, 

 a total of 13,865 deaths of infants, almost half of the total number 

 of deaths occurring during that year, which was 31,011. 



The question arises. What is it in cities that is so hostile to infant 

 life? 



The subject is a complex one, and in its analysis we must consider 

 the varying conditions surrounding the different classes. Distinctions 

 of rank are as definitely marked among infants as among adults. 

 There is none of the democracy which obtains in the country. We 



