In the past few years there has been an increasing recognition of the need for further investigation of the factors associated with death of the fetus in utero and during delivery and of the infant in the first few daysof life. Attention for some time has been focused on the older infant, with the result that deaths occurring in the period from the end of the first month to the end of the first year of life have been greatly reduced (100 per thousand live births in 1915 to 56 per thousand live births in 1935). The death rate in the first month has shown little reduction, while the rate for the first day of life and for stillbirths has remained practically stationary during the entire period since vital statistics on the subject have been collected. Except for disorders arising from defects of the germ plasm, the welfare of the