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best of milk, nothing spoils it more than the careless, or as I might,
perhaps, more justly term it, the ignorant neglect of infants,
feeding bottles, which are, according to my experience, rarely kept
clean and sweet: and the presence in which of a small quantity of
sour food very quickly turns new milk. It is the custom, moreover,
to put the bottle into the hot bed with the child, who feeds
itself from time to time until the bottle is emptied. This may
seem a small matter, but I am convinced of its importance, and
that many lives might be saved by proper attention 011 the part of
parents. Every infant, especially if brought up by hand, should
have two feeding bottles : the one washed and kept in cold water
while the other is in use; and the milk should in no case be allowed
to remain in the bottle long enough to become sour. Strict care
should be taken to cleanse regularly every portion of the apparatus
with the brushes provided for that purpose, and particularly that
part round the cork, under the metallic cap, where sour milk is
apt to accumulate unnoticed. Much good would be done—many
lives, I believe, might be saved—if the poor were properly instructed
on this subject: for in the great majority of cases it is
the poor whose children die from Diarrhoea.
Diseases of the Respiratory Organs—not including Phthisis (Consumption)
which properly belongs to the Tubercular class of
diseases—were fatal in 422 cases, equivalent to 18.6 per cent of all
the deaths and to an annual rate of 3.4 per 1000. They were
classified as follows :—Laryngitis, 13; Bronchitis, 230; Pneumonia,
120 ; Asthma, 10 ; Pleurisy, 4 ; "Lung Disease," 39. The fatality
of this class of disease is greatest at the two extremes of life and
during the cold seasons of the year, as shown in the subjoined
table, in wh'ch the winter and summer quarters, respectively, arc
grouped together:—

Diseases of the Heart and Blood Vessels were registered in 157
cases, (36, 43, 32, and 46 in the 4 quarters respectively), 146
returned generally as " Heart Disease, &c.," without reference to
the particular structure affectcd, whether the muscular walls or
the fibrous valvular apparatus.
To various Diseases of the Brain and Nervous system 249 deaths
were attributed, 60 being registered as "Brain Disease" ; 54, Apoplexy
; 42, Paralysis, and 62 Convulsions. All the deaths from
Convulsions occurred under one year: this disease (or symptom of