On infantile mortality, and the establishment of hospitals for sick children : read before the Dublin Obstetrical Society, January 8th, 1859 / by William Moore.

  • Moore, William, M.D.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On infantile mortality, and the establishment of hospitals for sick children : read before the Dublin Obstetrical Society, January 8th, 1859 / by William Moore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    41*8 ; in Paisley, 46’7 ; in Glasgow, 52’9 ; in Greenock, 46‘8 ; in Leith, 47'5 ; in Dundee, 55T. But we may place the facts in a different point of view, deduced from various enquiries, and once more chiefly from the valuable materials acquired by Fan- in England, confirmed by the researches of Neison, and the results of foreign statisticians. Thus, of 100,000 children living under one year of age, not of the poorer classes only, nor of the sick only, nor exclu- sively in cities, but throughout England, and under all the ordinary conditions of life, it is believed that 17,355, or 1 in 6, die within the year. To parallel this proportion of mortality, we must pass, from what should be the day-spring of life, to the age of decrepi- tude, and we find it first reached a second time between the 80th and 85th years of existence. Again, of 100,000 living under 5 years of age, 6,349, or 1 in 16, die within the year : a mortality which is not again attained till from the 7 0th to the 75th year. Of a like number, between the ages of 10 and 15 years, only 527, or 1 in 190 die; and between 30 and 45 years of age, 1143, or 1 in 88 die ; of 100,000 living of all ages united, from the new-born to the centenarian, 2,160, or 1 in 46, is the sum of the annual mortality. The average annual mortality of the nursling is there- fore about 32 times, and that of the child up to 5 years of age about 12 times that of the vigour of youth- hood ; as high as 14 times, and 5^ times that of the manly prime : or the one is about 8 times, and the other 3 times, that of the gross or general average of human existence. I regret to add, as far as our own kingdom is con- cerned, we may be said to be devoid of any recent statistical returns of births and deaths ; however, the deep importance of this subject is every day becoming more imperative, and it is confidently to be hoped that ere long we will be placed in a similar position with our sister kingdoms on this all important subject. In a 2