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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    Vol. I. of the Census of Ireland for 1851, by Messrs. Donnelly and Wilde, we find, that from the comple- tion of the first to the end of the fourth, or from 1 to 5 years of age, the proportion per cent, of deaths for the entire country was 18*0 ; but this also fluctuated considerably in different localities—from the counties of Down, Monaghan, Queen’s and Kildare, where it ranged from 14'4 to 14'9 in the hundred, to the civic districts of Galway town, where it was 20’0 ; to Dub- lin city, 20’2 ; Kilkenny city, 20'3 ; Waterford city, 21‘5 ; Limerick city, 22T ; Belfast, 22'7 ; Cork city, 23‘5, and Drogheda town, where it amounted to 25‘5 per cent. This last locality has been long noted for its unhealthiness. The counties of Mayo, Roscommon and Kerry, in particular, furnish a high rate of mor- tality at this period of life : that for Kerry being 22’9 per hundred. From the 5th to the 10th year, the average per centage of deaths for the entire country was 9*7 ; but this also presents considerable varieties, according to provinces : from 8'0 in Ulster to 11T per cent, in Connaught ; Dublin city, 7*6 per cent. ; Galway, so low in the first year of life, was as high as 13‘4. As at least 20 per cent, die in Dublin under 5 years of age, and 8 per cent, between 30 and 40 years of age, the mortality under 5 years has a relative pro- portion to the general mortality, between 30 and 40 years of age, of about 40 per cent. The extraordinary mortality among children in Australia is one of the most painful phenomena of the present day. Of all inhabitants of the temperate zone, the return of the genial spring and summer brings to them not rejoicing but woe. The season which nature indicates as the time for the renewal of animal and vegetable life, becomes with them the season of death. It is hardly credible, if it was not for the accuracy of their statistical tables, that in Melbourne, during the summer months, the natural increase of population is actually checked, and that the number of births