Sanitary statistics of native colonial schools and hospitals.

  • Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary statistics of native colonial schools and hospitals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material is part of the Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection. The original may be consulted at University of California Libraries.

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    annum for boys and about 3 per 1,000 per annum for girls. But, including deaths among children who leave school to die at home, this rate would be nearly doubled. The Indian schools in Canada afford a total annual death rate of 12^ per 1,000 for both sexes; but the mortality of girls is nearly double that of boys. The Sierra Leone schools afford a very high rate of mortality, viz., 20 per 1,000 for males, and 35 per 1,000 for females. The Western Australian schools yield the highest death rate of any, nearly 35 per 1,000 for boys and 13 per 1,000 for girls. These death rates are of course only approximations to the truth. But on any supposition they are very high. It is important to compare these death rates with those of children of the same ages at home. But we have only the means of doing so for 5 years of age and onwards. The home rates are given in Table E., which shows that from 5 to 10 the total mortality of both sexes is 92 per 1,000 at home. From 10 to 15 it is 5*3 per 1,000. Above 15 the home mortality is 8*4 per 1,000. Making allow- ance for native children dying at home, we shall be within the truth in assuming the mortality of native children at school as double that of English children o'f the same ages. The next point of the inquiry is to ascertain the nature Table G, of the fatal diseases. And here we find a remarkable P- 29- difference in the returns from different colonies. Thus out of 190 deaths in the Sierra Leone schools, all except 8 are due to small pox, measles, and hooping cough, scarlet fever, and other forms of fever. In the Ceylon schools these same diseases, with the addition of diarrhoea, dysentery, and cholera, give rise to 261 deaths out of a total mortality of 341. In contrast with this great prevalence of miasmatic diseases, the West Australian schools yield only 2 deaths from chil- dren's epidemics, out of a total mortality of 9. In the Natal schools three children died of miasmatic diseases out of a total mortality of 16, while in the Canadian schools there is only one miasmatic death out of a total mortality of 27. The adult natives at many of the colonies are con- sidered specially subject to tubercular diseases, more par- ticularly consumption. This class of diseases is indeed supposed to be a main cause of the gradual decline and disappearance of uncivilized or semi-civilized races.