Infant and young child welfare / by Harold Scurfield.

  • Scurfield, Harold, 1863-1941.
Date:
[1919]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Infant and young child welfare / by Harold Scurfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD WELFARE INTRODUCTION So-called Darwinism has been applied to the pro¬ blem of infant mortality. One frequently meets people who think that a high mortality and slum conditions provide for the removal of the “ surplus population and the “ survival of the fittest/' I came across a good example of this a few years ago in a book written by an African missionary. The author, in drawing attention to the terribly high rate of infant mortality among the primitive tribes, uses these words : “ The life of an African child is a constant witness to the practical truth of the Darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest, and then goes on to say, “ Perhaps if some of the safeguards so elaborately gathered round English children were removed we should see some compensation for a higher death-rate in an improved stamina and physique. The author in question dedicates his book “ To my mother, to whose guidance I owe my inspiration, and to whose watchful care I owe my physical equipment for the work of the mission-field. On his own show-
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