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78
respecting the relation existing between Epidemic Diarrhœa and
the feeding of infants. This Report is not the place to enter
into a discussion upon the whole subject raised by these facts,
but brief reference may be made to them.
Newsholme, Delepine and other authorities have for long held
that infected milk is the most common cause of the Epidemic
Diarrhœa of infants. I have pointed out in my reports for 1899,
1900 and 1901 how true this view is for Finsbury in particular.
It is not unlikely that there is an intimate relationship existing
between the earth temperature, the rainfall, and the infectivity
of milk. It was formerly supposed that the facts observed by
Ballard had relationship to conditions of the soil only. I am
inclined to think as I pointed out in 1899 that the emphasis must
be laid more upon the effects of temperature upon food, and
especially milk, than upon any miasmatic influences of the soil.
The two sets of facts, the earth temperatures and the bad
feeding of infants, have, of course, been frequently observed
and reported upon. It is possible there is an intimate relationship
between the two. Hence the importance of collecting facts
respecting the causes and conditions of Epidemic Diarrhoea in
Finsbury.
Alongside the observations we have made respecting the
temperature of the soil, we have investigated the feeding of
infants who died from Enidemic Diarrhœa during 1901 and 1902.