The City of London appears peculiarly fatal to infant life. Reference to the Registrar-General’s last septennial record shows that of every 1000 male children under five years of age within the City of London (aggregately) nearly 113 die in each year; and the portion of this rate which is deduced from the East and West London Unions is as high as 119 in the thousand. In the subjoined table,[34] which illustrates some points of comparative mortality, I have endeavoured to show the extreme and disproportionate amount of this pressure on infant life. In referring (for instance, in regard of the City of London Union) to the last three columns of that table, you will observe that the mortality of children at the age stated, during the septennial period, was 1/2·66 of the entire mortality, although their class numerically constituted only 1/11·09 of the entire population; so that they died at more than four times (4·17) the rate which would have fallen to them as simple participators in the average mortality of their district. The actual infant mortality of the past year holds the same proportion to the general mortality as in the Registrar-General’s septennial period, being 1/2·66 of the whole. [34] +--------------+---------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+ | Places. | General | Death- | Out of | Out of | By what | | | death- | rate | entire | entire | multiple | | | rate | _per_ | living | mortality| is the | | | _per_ |thousand|population| what | mortality | | | thousand| _per | what |proportion|of children| | | _per | annum_ |proportion| occurs | under five| | | annum_. |of male | is under | under | years in | | | |children|five years|five years| excess of | | | | under | of age? | of age? |the average| | | | five | | | mortality | | | | years | | | of all | | | | of age.| | | ages? | +--------------+---------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+ |City of London| | | | | | |Union | 21 | 101 | 1/11·09 | 1/2·66 | 4·17 | |E. and W. Lon-| | | | | | |don Union | 26¾ | 101 | 1/9·02 | 1/2·24 | 4·02 | |Metropolis | 25 | 93 | 1/8·45 | 1/2·45 | 3·45 | |Holborn | 26 | 115 | 1/8·98 | 1/2·20 | 4·08 | |St. Giles | 27 | 122 | 1/9·85 | 1/2·24 | 4·39 | |St. Martin | 24 | 120 | 1/10·64 | 1/2·42 | 4·39 | |Bristol | 29 | 107 | 1/8·73 | 1/2·53 | 3·45 | |Liverpool | 33 | 143 | 1/7·35 | 1/1·91 | 3·85 |