224 ^^-^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ter, and fuel, and we begin to have some faint conception of the 

 perils which surround infant-life in a large proportion of cases. 

 Without adequate nourishment, and improperly cared for in every 

 respect, life is one sharp struggle with want, and it is little wonder 

 that want often gains the victory. In England, for the ten years 

 ending with 1875, an average of eighty-two deaths annually was 

 assigned to starvation alone. But privation and destitution exer- 

 cise a controlling influence over the mortality of infancy under 

 other names than this. What the form of death shall be is deter- 

 mined by various circumstances. It occurs largely from the dis- 

 eases of denutrition and debility, rickets, scrofula, consumption, 

 and other constitutional diseases. 



Exposure to cold and wet, especially in the sharp vicissitudes 

 of our winter climate, and more particularly when this is added 

 to the causes already named, results in a largely increased preva- 

 lence of the acute lung-diseases. These are extremely fatal even 

 in adults, and the mortality is proportionately large in children. 

 Says Routh, in his work on " Infant Feeding " : "Among the most 

 pernicious influences among young children we may include cold. 

 It is a household word among us, which takes its origin from the 

 Registrar - General's returns, that a very cold week always in- 

 creases the mortality of the very young and the very aged." The 

 same statement is true in America, though it may be in a some- 

 what less degree, owing to the fact that our houses are better 

 pro\dded against extreme cold than are those of the English. 

 Throughout England, one sixth of all deaths from lung-diseases 

 occur under five. In London, forty-four per cent of the deaths 

 from pneumonia and bronchitis take place under that age. In 

 Massachusetts, the proportion of deaths from pneumonia under 

 five is thirty-four per cent. These deaths occur largely in the in- 

 clement portions of the year. In England, both bronchitis and 

 pneumonia attain their maximum in the first quarter of the year, 

 decline during the second quarter, reach their minimum during 

 the third, and begin to increase during the fourth. In Michigan, 

 Dr. H. B. Baker has shown that the greatest prevalence of the 

 acute lung-diseases is in February, and the least in August. In 

 Massachusetts, March has the largest number of deaths, and Au- 

 gust the least. 



Four distinct but closely related causes combine to produce 

 the diarrhoeal diseases, which result in one fourth of the entire 

 mortality under five. These are heat, improper feeding, filth, and 

 overcrowding. The influence of lieat is seen in the facts that, in 

 our climate, the overwhelming majority of cases in these diseases 

 occur during the hottest months of the year ; that their prevalence 

 is greater in the southern portions of the temperate zone than in 

 the northern, and in unusually hot summers than in those whose 



