MORTALITY AMONGST BOYS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1063, 3 February 1883, Page 1

MORTALITY AMONGST BOYS.

u Why do more boys die than girls ? ” inquires the Tall Mall Gazette.'' “ For evu’y hundred girls born in the world there arc one hundred and four boys, and it used to be imagined tint the extra four boys were supplied in older to meet the ex ha wear and (ear of life which must be borne by the breadwinners of the world. But the odd Ihing to which Dr Bibb e calls attention in a medical contemporary is that the extra 4 per cent, of boys is wiped out by death before they aitain the ago of live. Why is this 1 Dr Biddle makes two suggestions, first that tin greater ‘ waste ! of boys may be due to their higher organism ; and secondly, that it may bo ‘duo to the fact that our little boys are given over to the tender mercies of mothers and maids, instead of being reared by those who understand them. ‘Those who understand them’ would seem to refer to persSns of their own sex, so that Dr Biddle would seem to look with favor upon the appointment of male nurses for male infants. The non-medi-cal observer would he inclined to accept heavy odds that, if Dr Biddle's suggestion were acted upon, the ‘waste’ of the higher organism, instead of being reduced, would increase at a very alarmin g ratio indeed.”