INFANT MORTALITY

term technically used to denote the number of infants who die within one year from birth and the proportion that these deaths bear to the death rate of the entire population, Stastistics in the United States are much le accurate on this subject than in many countries abroad. The different States vary in the strictne of their laws regarding these matters and the vigor with which they are enforced. In some states where excellent laws obtain, they are only in part obeyed. Reliance has to be placed therefore on records from a sufficient number of large cities, where, as a rule, the figures are fairly complete, and an average of which gives sufficient ground for generalization. It is known that about 2,500,000 babies are born in the United States every year. A much larger proportion of these die within the first year than in any other period of existence. They also die more frequently where the population is most dense.' Some of the causes for the high infant mortality are premature birth, heredity, intemperance, too early marriage of parents, neglect, ignorance. lack of hygienic surroundings, and the many infantile diseases that break the babe’s fragile hold on life. Of these causes, perhaps unsanitary conditions are the most fatal. Contrasting towns of the same State, Fall River and Lynn, Ma ., the rate of infant mortality is 239.7 per you sand in the former, and only 140.7 per you sand in the latter. The first is overcrowded with tenement houses; the second has better buildings, larger open spaces, and the parents are engaged in healthier occupations. In 1920, out of a population of 27,- 433,479 in leading American cities, the total deaths were 372,629. Of these, the deaths under one year of age totaled 56,818. The death rate for infants is much greater among the colored people than among the white. In 1920, for instance, 82 white babies and 132 lored babies out of 1,000 of each color | ete died in their first year of life. In New York City, the number per you sand dying before the expiration of the first year was 83 white and 157 colored. A marked improvement in infané mortality is shown in the figures for 1921, “where the total deaths in the same Cities, though the population itself must have 4ncreased considerably in that period, were 327,550, while deaths under one year numbered 48,067. Part of this improvement is due to the housing laws which require a larger amount of air space in tenements; part to the conquests made by science in the treatment of infantile diseases, such as diphtheria, baby pneumonia, and scarlet fever; part to the efforts of health officers of various cities who have established educational centers for mothers on the subject of care of children, and part to the widespread discu ion and suggestions in newspapers and magazines. It is too early as yet to a ume what effect prohibition will have upon the figures of infant mortality, although it is known that hitherto intemperance on the part of either or both parents has had a most deleterious effect on the vitality of the new born and their chances for life.