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In a letter to the “ British Medical Journal," in January, 1910, Dr. Killick Millard sums up the
advantages of dried milk as food for infants as follows : —
1. Ease of digestion.—Milk not " sicked up," as is often the case -with fresh milk, however
modified.
2. Bacterial purity. —Freedom from tubercle baccilli or contamination by flies.
3. Conservability.—No “ souring ” in hot weather.
4. Cheapness.—No waste.
5. Convenience. —Always ready for use, no waiting for the milkman.
6. Palatableness.—Babies love it.
In Sheffield, where dried milk has been in use also, the Medical Officer, Dr. Scurfield, states : “ We
have more than two hundred babies constantly on the dried milk. Our experience is that dried
milk is much more easily digested than raw or boiled cow's milk, and that no ill consequences, such as
scurvv or rickets, follow its use. It is, of course, only an inferior substitute for mother's milk.”
And, lastly, Dr. Robert Hutchison, Physician to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond
Street, and a well-known authority on dietetics, states in his book on “Food and the Principles of
Dietetics ” : “ The powder (i.e., dried milk) so prepared contains all the solids of the original milk in a
sterile and soluble form, and is therefore of the highest nutritive value. There can be doubt that
desiccated milk will come into large use in the immediate future.”
The cost of starting a depôt for dried milk is trifling compared with an ordinary one. There is
no sterilizing or bottle washing apparatus required, and the only staff necessary is a manageress
to give out the milk. The mothers buy one or two pound tins at a time, and this is suitably labelled
and she returns when it is done.
In Leicester they have only a part-time health visitor, so that the supervision of those taking
the milk is not so good as it would be with us. Accurate registers are kept of all babies getting the
milk, and accounts are kept in accordance with business principles and audited every year by the
Borough Treasurer. The rule is with very few exceptions that all milk is paid for by someone. If
the mother cannot afford it help is received from the Charity Organisation Society, guardians, or
some philanthropic persons, and this system is found to work very well. lam convinced that if
a similar depot were started here in a small way that it would very soon pay its way, and give the
Health Visitors an immense hold over the rearing of infants who from any cause cannot have their
mother's milk.”
Cowsheds.
There were 3 cowsheds in the Borough. These received regular visits, the total number of
inspections for 1912 being 18. One notice was served.