Abstract
Poisoning, burns, and other accidents experienced by 1037 Dunedin children during their first three years of life are described. 7.8% of the children ingested poison, 4.9% were burned, and 21.4% experienced other accidents for which medical advice was sought. The children who had been poisoned were of significantly lower intelligence than the remainder although those who had had other accidents did not differ significantly in this respect. The mothers of children poisoned or who had had accidents were not significantly different from the remainder in terms of general mental ability or training in child development.