4 INTRODUCTION. 



was a total of 2,150 instances of loss of life, occurring yearly 

 in a single institution, chargeable, not against any unalterable 

 decrees of Providence, as some are disposed to contend as an 

 excuse for their own negligence ; but against the ignorance, 

 indifference, or cruelty of man. And what a lesson of vigi- 

 lance and inquiry ought not such occurrences to convey, 

 when, even now, with all our boasted improvements, every 

 tenth infant still perishes within a month of its birth ! " l 



The effect of attention to cleanliness and ventilation in the 

 reduction of an excessive infantile mortality, has been equally 

 shown in the experience of the Dublin Lying-in Hospital. 

 At the conclusion of 1782, it was found that out of 17,650 

 infants born alive, no fewer than 2,944, or one in every six, 

 had died within the first fortnight. By the more efficient 

 ventilation of the wards, the proportion of deaths during the 

 first fortnight was at once reduced to 419 out of 8,033, or 

 but little more than one in twenty; and it has subsequently 

 been still further diminished. 



In the island of St. Kilda, the most northern of the Heb- 

 rides, according to the statement of a gentleman who visited 

 it in 1838, as many as eight out of every ten children die 

 between the eighth and twelfth day of their existence ; in 

 consequence of which terrible mortality, the population of the 

 island is diminishing rather than increasing. This is due, 

 not to anything injurious in the position or atmosphere of the 

 island ; for its " air is good, and the water excellent : " but 

 to the " filth in which the inhabitants live, and the noxious 

 effluvia which pervade their houses." The huts are small, low- 

 roofed, and without windows ; and are used during the winter 

 as stores for the collection of manure, which is carefully laid 

 out upon the floor, and trodden under foot, till it accumulates 

 to the depth of several feet. The clergyman, who lives 

 exactly as those around him do, in every respect, except as 

 regards the condition of his house, has reared a family of four 

 children, all of whom are well and healthy ; whereas, accord- 

 ing to the average mortality around him, at least three out of 

 the four would have been dead within the first fortnight. 



It is not a little remarkable that a recent sanitary inquiry 

 carried out by order of the Danish government, into the con- 



1 Dr. A. Combe on the Physiological and Moral Management of 

 Infancy. 



