690 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 



Tlie deaths from diarrhoea and gastro-enteritis of infants under 

 1 year of age per 1,000 deaths under 1 year from all causes was 

 380-30. 



^ In Germany, according to Behring, of every 1,000 children born 

 alive 235 succumb during the first year of life. Only 510 out of 

 1,000 males bom attain manhood. These sad facts Behring attributes 

 very largely to the ulterior effects of infection derived in infancy 

 from milk. 



Dealing with vital statistics of more recent date, based upon 

 the Registrar-General's weekly returns for the third quarter of 1908, 

 for 76 of the largest English towns, we find that infant mortality, 

 measured by the proportion of deaths among children under 1 year 

 of age to registered births, was equal to 145 per 1,000. 



In London the rate of infant mortality in the third quarter of 

 1908 was equal to 129 per 1,000, while it averaged 152 in the 75 

 other large towns, and ranged from 42 in Hastings to 258 in Burnley. 



The proportion of deaths of infants under 1 year of age to eveiy 

 1,000 births for the United Kingdom shows the following means for 

 ten years (1898-1907):— 



England and Wales 141*65 



Scotland 124'66 



Ireland 100'39 



In Queensland, 86 out of every 1,000 male children bora, and 

 68 of every 1,000 female children, died during the year 1907 before 

 attaining the age of 1 year. The mortality was thus 1 in 12 of 

 male infants and 1 in 15 of female infants. 



The means of 10 years (1898-1907) was 460 deaths under 1 

 month and 1,318 under 12 months. 



The following table is added to show the comparison of Queens- 

 land to other States of the Commonwealth and New Zealand : — 



The Statistics given show how large a proportion of all deaths 

 are among infants. 



