governments, the efficiency of
physicians, nurses, health officers, and educators."

Care of the child should begin at the earliest possible moment: that is,
nearly nine months before he is born. Care before birth, for want of a
better name, is called prenatal care of the mother. Every woman who
thinks that she is pregnant should put herself at once under the care of
a competent physician, so that he can make the necessary examinations as
early as possible. If she follows his advice in regard to hygiene and
proper regulation of her life, she may be free from anxiety, and may
justly expect that her delivery will be a safe and normal process.

A demonstration of the value of prenatal care was recently made by the
Boston District Nursing Association. During the year 1915 prenatal care
was given to 751 expectant mothers in 5 wards of the city; each woman
attended a pregnancy clinic, where she was under the care of an
experienced obstetrician, and was visited at intervals by a nurse who
kept careful watch of her general condition and gave necessary advice
and encouragement. In consequence the death rate among the babies whose
mothers had prenatal care was only half as great, through the whole
first year of life, as the death rate of babies in the same wards whose
mothers had not had prenatal care. Moreover, the rate of still-births
was only half as great as the rate among the general population of
Boston. If prenatal care can save so many lives, surely it ought to be
available for every pregnant woman in the land, including even that
generally neglected class of people who are neither very rich nor very
poor.

Each baby's birth should be recorded by the registrar of births, and
parents should make sure that registration has been attended to in the
city or town where they live. In some states birth registration is
already obligatory, but in any case it is required by the child's own
interest. For instance, in later life it may be necessary for him to
prove the date and place of birth in order to establish, among other
things, his right to vote and to inherit property, and to settle the
question of his liability to military service. Moreover, complete and
accurate birth registration is needed by every community because it is
essential to such reforms as reducing infant mortality and abolishing
child labor.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Statements in regard to growth and development are based on observations
of many c