Page:The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 1920.djvu/177



conclusions reached in the report issued by the Medical Research Committee(1) regarding the relative importance of pre-natal and post-natal conditions as causes of Infant Mortality are:—That chances of survival differ but little at birth in different social classes, but as the child grows older the mortality in unfavourably situated classes becomes progressively higher.

It would appear that Nature favours the child at the expense of the mother, but mortality rates are not the sole index of vigor, and as yet much comparative information regarding physical development is not available.

In Glasgow, Dr. Kerr Love found that the children of the poorest mothers weigh on an average 7.1 lbs. at birth, the weight of a healthy infant being 7 lbs. (Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases.)

In view of the very large number of infants who die before the end of the first year in India, the following enquiry was undertaken with the object of determining the condition of development and general nutrition, as shown by weight, of the normal Indian infant at birth. Weight was taken as a useful index of development, but in the present state of knowledge it is not possible to estimate the full extent to which unfavourable pre-natal conditions may have depressed the vitality of the child.