AXTE-XATAL HYGIENE : DISCUSSION 429 



or after the first month? Apart from that he had noticed 

 that the minor toxaemias of pregnancy the ones connected 

 with excessive vomiting continued throughout the whole 

 pregnancy or a very considerable portion of it, and bad head- 

 aches the history of this kind of pregnancy often occurred 

 in cases in which the infants were found to be marasmic. 

 When they did not actually die at birth they were found 

 to be wasting infants who did not gain in weight. It was a 

 most striking fact that in a great number of these cases the 

 mother gave a history of a very considerable amount of 

 trouble during pregnancy. From that point of view, quite 

 apart from the number of infants that died, he thought the 

 secret of a great number of these wasting infants was 

 trouble during pregnancy. If they were going to advance 

 very much in regard to the prevention of infantile mortality 

 they would have to strike out a new line and take such 

 matters into consideration. The question of the feeding of 

 the child was almost played out. He did not say it had 

 been worked out in a practical way completely, but they 

 were getting towards the end of original work in that 

 respect, and they now wanted to go more thoroughly into 

 the pre-natal condition, which he was glad to say had had 

 so great an amount of attention by that Conference, and 

 specially should attention be called to these so-called 

 toxaemias of pregnancy. The more infants one saw the 

 more striking was it that toxaemias of pregnancy seemed to 

 be the cause of wasting in infants. 



Dr. TRUBY KING (New Zealand) said he would like to 

 say a few words in appreciation of what had been said in 

 regard to the question of the toxaemias of pregnancy and 

 the benefit which would accrue if greater care were taken 

 in regard to the mother's health during the period of preg- 

 nancy. Of course, there could be no question whatever 

 that by whatever means that was brought about it would 

 be a stupendous benefit to the mothers, and, of course, the 

 object of the writer of the paper was obviously one in the 

 interest of motherhood. He had not to do with the ques- 

 tion of the particular classes which the notification suggested 

 would affect. No doubt it would be intended for the class 

 which had least social advantages. But on the other hand 

 he was perfectly certain that such a measure if applied to 

 and found of benefit to one class would also become the 

 order with regard to the other classes. He meant to say 

 that it would impress upon the community the enormous 

 importance which attached to the proper care of the mother 

 and the child long before the period at which the child was 

 born. The observations made in connection with one of 



