Very little use of the services of doctors had been made by the canal-boat families. A large proportion of them did not regard ordinary illness as an excuse for sending for a physician. "We never need a doctor," said one father. "We just stay sick until we get well." Among nine families who seemed to think it would be easy to get a doctor while boating, four qualified their statement with the remark that it might be necessary to go long distances. Said one of these: "You can always get a doctor in a day." Another said "Easy, if you have the money." In one family that had been obliged to search for a doctor, comment was made on the fact that the shifting of the boat necessitated having different electors at different places, an unsatisfactory and expensive arrangement. More than half the families reported that it was difficult to got a doctor, and in the mountains at the upper end of the canal, or along the "long levels" it was practically impossible to secure medical assistance. Fifteen of the children were reported to have had serious illnesses during 1920.
Information concerning conditions at the time of their most recent confinements was secured from mothers of children born subsequent to December 31, 1915. Four children had been born on boats and 22 on land. The mothers of two of the babies born on boats had been attended at confinement by physicians. Thirteen of the 22 mothers giving birth to children on land were attended by physicians; 2 were attended by midwives; for the other 7 mothers the facts were not reported. Some children reported as having been born on land had been born at lock houses or in villages where the mother had neither hospital care, friends, nor home conveniences. One mother had had 14 children, all born on boats. She had never had a physician, but always a midwife, and had received no care after delivery. At the time of the study 7 of these children had died.