179 
Under 
Under 
1 Year of Age. 
5 Years of Age, 
Preston ...... 
...... 312 .... 
503 
Ashton 297 485 
Oldham ......... 287 499 
Bolton 
KJ g • . . . c 
276 
493 
Blackburn 
272 
487 
Manchester . . . . , 
. 253 ..... 
465 
In all the lists the numbers for Manchester are much less 
than those for any of the other towns, and in some cases 
the differences are very striking. It is clear therefore that 
the stigma which has been cast upon the mothers belonging 
to the working classes of Manchester is most undeserved ; 
and that, in fact, infants and young children are better 
cared for, and attended to, in Manchester than in any other 
leading manufacturing town in England. It is also evident 
that excessive infant mortality is not the cause of the 
alarmingly high death-rate of Manchester, since a much, 
larger proportional number of deaths of infants and young 
children takes place in other towns where the general 
death-rate is decidedly lower. Some other cause must 
therefore be sought out to account for the failure of the 
attempts made by the sanitary authorities to reduce the 
death-rate of Manchester. 
Mr. Baxendell, referring to the paper he had read at 
the last meeting, said that as considerable surprise had been 
expressed at the facts he had given showing that the carry- 
ing out of the schemes of the sanitary authorities through- 
out England had produced no diminution in the general 
rate of mortality, he had since examined the mortality 
returns for Scotland for the ten years 1859-68, and found 
