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ignorance and carelessness. It is the function of the Health
Visitor, therefore, to instruct the mother in the proper care
and management of the child. The advice of the trained Visitor
is at times resented, and it is usually the most ignorant mother
who is most aggrieved. The rearing and management of
infants is largely a matter of intelligence, which can only be
acquired by training and experience. It is a matter of great
importance, therefore, to secure well-educated, experienced,
tactful women for this important duty; and that the Council
have been fortunate in their selections of these useful officers
will be at once apparent from a comparison of the infant
mortality rates since the Council began to utilise their
services, with those which obtained in previous years. The
experience of Battersea in this respect is the same in other
Boroughs where Health Visitors are employed ; and an extension
of this administrative procedure would, I am convinced, lead
to better results than even those upon which the Council are to
be congratulated. It is satisfactory to note that the London
County Council are applying for powers in their General Powers
Bill for 1908, to enable them to return to Sanitary Authorities
a moiety of the salaries of these officers, as they now do in the
case of Sanitary Inspectors. It is to be hoped that this useful
provision will receive the sanction of Parliament, so that Sanitary
Authorities may be induced to appoint more of these useful
officers.
INFANT FEEDING.
The Infants' Milk Depot.
The proper nourishment of the infant is a matter of the
greatest importance, as on this fact depends whether it is to
grow up a useful citizen or sink into the grave before its time, or,
what is even worse, to grow up to adult life a degenerate, to
help to perpetuate a race of degenerates. The best food for
infants is mother's milk, and the child that is deprived of its
natural food is deprived of its birthright. The milk of each
animal is specialised for that particular animal, and no other
animal's milk can ever be found a satisfactory substitute. The