[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Stockport County Borough.

  • Stockport (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Stockport County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    To go from statistical to practical everyday experience—does not everybody know how frequently the solitary child in a home becomes—is it too much to say pampered ?—at any rate reared with a delicacy and extraordinary care which is ill-calculated to fit him for the coming battle of life ? Mons. Emile Zola has drawn a true picture of the contrast between the solitarv child and the large familv in his novel, “ Fruitfulness ” and has sketched with considerable truthfulness, as well as art. the beneficial effects on all concerned of the competition prevailing in the well-filled home. The diminution in the birth-rate is accompanied, as I have shown in several of my annual reports, by an increase, or at least a maintenance, of a terribly high infantile mortality, particularly in the large manufacturing towns. Take the following figures for England and Wales Infant Mortality per 1,000 Births. Year. 1896 . Birth-rate per 1,000. . ~ 29-7 . England & Wales, 148 1897 .. .. 29-7 . 156 1898 . . 29-4 . 160 1899 .. . 29-3 . 163 1900 . . 28-9 . 154 1901 . .. 28-5 . 151 1902 . . 28-6 . 133 1903 . . 28-4 . 132 1901 . . 279 . 146 Again, one may compare the figures relating to the birth-rate for our own country with the country which has come so much to the front in other matters lately, Japan. On the one hand we observe a steady increase, on the other an equally steady decrease. BIRTHS PER 1,000 OF THE POPULATIONS OF JAPAN AND ENGLAND AND WALES. Year. 1879 Births per 1,000 living. J apan. . 24-4 . England & Wales. . 34-7 1880 . 24*3 . . 34-2 1881 . . 25-6 . . 33-9 1882 . . 25-7 . . 33-8 1883 . . 28-2 . . 33-5 1884 . 27-5 . . 33-6 1885 . 29-3 . . 32*9 1886 . . 28-6 . 32-8 1887 . 275 . . 31-9 1888 . 30-0 . . 31*2 1889 . . 30*5 . 311