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55
It will be seen from these figures that "Ballard's law" (of increase
of diarrhœal fatality after the 4-foot earth thermometer is above
56° F.) does not appear to have held good. No marked rise
occurred until the temperature was 60° F., and although the summer
was hot and fairly dry the total deaths were much less than the
year before. I can offer no explanation of this. It is possible that
the Infants' Milk Depot saved some of the infant lives that would
otherwise have been lost in the third quarter.
(c) Relation to methods of Reeding.
An enquiry has been made into each of the fatal cases of
diarrhœa with a view of obtaining information as to surroundings
and method of feeding. In 70 cases out of the 77 the following
facts have been obtained
Breast-fed only 15 or 21.5 per cent.
Cows' milk only 34 or 48.6 ,,
Artificial or "condensed" milk only 19 or 27.1 „
Breast-fed and cows' milk l or 1.4 ,,
Breast-fed and condensed milk l or 1.4 ,,
70 100.0
That is to say, 79 per cent. of the children under one year dying
of epidemic diarrhœa in Finsbury, in the third quarter of 1905),
were fed on cows' milk or "condensed" milk, or in other words, upon
milk which might be, and in fact is, liable to great contamination.
There can be no doubt in the mind of anyone who knows how the
poor live in an urban district like Finsbury, that, quite apart from
(he unsuitability of "condensed" or cows' milk for infant feeding,
these two forms of milk readily become contaminated with dirt and
dust. Much pollution arises at the farm and in transit, or at the
milkshop, and much also in the home of the consumer, particularly
during a warm, dry summer.
The conclusion is inevitable that epidemic diarrhoea in Finsbury
affects children who are not breast-fed more than it affects others.
But it may be urged that these figures are too small and occur
in a period too short to be reliable, It, may, therefore, be well to add