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115
(d) A discriminating and careful distribution of the milk
only to children who cannot be breast-fed, and the
use of a suitable modification for each child ;
(e) The systematic study of the effect of the milk on each
child, accompanied by medical examination and
periodical weighing ;
(f) The adoption of a policy of increasing rather than
decreasing the sense of responsibility of the mother.
2. That the milk used in the Depot under consideration is
prepared under exceptionally good conditions, but not
such as cannot be adopted by other dairy farms. Not
the least valuable part of the work which has been done
seems to me to be the practical demonstration which it
furnishes in model dairying, which could, and should, be
more widely practised in this country.
3. That as far as can be judged, the Depot has saved the
lives of some children and strengthened the physical condition
and constitution of others. Eighty-one per cent.
of the children who consumed the milk for a period of not
less than a month gained the standard average weight
of one pound per month. Whilst it is admitted that an
Infants' Milk Depot is only a palliative method of preventive
medicine, these results show that under certain
circumstances it may be of substantial value in the
reduction of infant death rates.
4. That there is evidence to show that the Depot will serve
as an important training school of infant management.
° It is, of course, perfectly clear that the number of infants using the
Depot has been very small. Therefore death rates and deductions
must be accepted as tentative only. The total death rate, however,
for the year of the children fed at the Depot is 84.7 per 1,000 births ;
168.6 per 1,000 births in the Borough of Finsbury in 1904; and 146.1 in
London as a whole. The infant death rate in the third quarter of 1905
in the Borough of Finsbury was 207.9 per 1,000 births, whereas the death
rate of the Depot-fed infants in the same period was 87.7. Reservations
with regard to these figures will be found in the Report, and in any case
they are not comparable owing to variation in age incidence at death.