202 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



tion of these " unwelcome children " could be saved, to become 

 useful members of the community ; but even this religious city 

 cannot provide Indies more willing to do this most loathsome of 

 works, and more devoted to the service which they thus offer to 

 our common Saviour. Materials are not accessible to make an 

 extended comparison of the mortality among Montreal found- 

 lings with that of the same class elsewhere, but the following 

 particulars are given in the ''• Fifth Annual Report of the Board 

 of State Charities of Massachusetts," pp. 35, 37, 38, 45 : — 



30. Comparative Mortality of Foundlings, under one 

 year of age. 



Per cent. 



Supposed yearly death-rate at the Neapolitan Hospital 90 



In some Hospitals, as high as 9S 



In some well-managed Hospitals., as low as from 40 — 60 



In good Asylums, from 30 — 50 



In good single families, from 20 — 35 



Average death-rate of infants in the whole oi Massachusetts 13.5 



" " " in the country districts of ditto 12.6 



'■ " " in Suffolk county, including Boston 17.4 



Mortality at the Foundling Hospital, Ward Island, New York, 186S : — 



" Infants suckled by their own mothers 20.0 



" " bottle-fed on milk by their own mothers 29.5 



" Foundlings suckled by nurses 72.5 



" " bottle-fed on milk by nurses 89.6 



Montreal Foundlings, bottle-fed by nurses, 1868 89.9 



Ordinary Montreal Infants, 1867 29. 3 



Total City mortality of infants under one year, (in Boston, 17.4 ;) in Montreal, 1867 36. 8 



It is an open question, which need not be here discussed, 

 whether or not such institutions do more good, in the care of the 

 forsaken, or harm, in the facility afforded to escape the shame of 

 unlawful parentage. Two things are certain, viz., that while 

 the passions of men remain uncontrolled by religion, especially 

 when intensified by city life, these children will continue to be 

 born ; and that, where there are no such institutions, prae- and 

 post-natal murder are common though often undiscovered crimes. 

 Whether these children die scattered over the city, or collected 

 into a hospital, or (as in our case) distributed through country 

 homes, their deaths fairly belong to, as they have been thus far 

 reckoned with, the city mortality. 



One poition of the deaths, however, does not belong to us, viz., 



