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legs—an exercise that is of as much importance to him as
it is to an adult. Then when the baby is 3 or 4 months old, from
being over-clothed he is suddenly put into short clothes, and
becomes sadly underclothed. His neck and arms are bare as
well as his legs. The thighs and hips are covered only by short
skirts, which give very little protection to the child.
Summer Diarrhoea was very prevalent during July, August
and September. It is due to a certain germ which migrates
from the soil, and enters the milk and other food. The hotter
the summer the more prevalent is the disease, and the higher is
the mortality. I made inquiries into 73 deaths. Fifteen of the
families had gone away. Eight of the deaths were children
between 12 and 18 months old. Of these, 3 were brought up
artificially, and 5 on the breast. Of the remaining 50, which
were under a twelvemonth old, 38 were brought up artificially,
and 12 only on the breast. Of the 12 brought up on the breast,
only 2 were under 3 months old.
Gastritis (inflammation of the lining membrane of the
stomach). Enteritis (inflammation of the lining membrane
of the bowels), and Gastro-Enteritis.—Of the 38 deaths from
these diseases that I enquired into, 10 of the families had gone
away. Of the 5 deaths of children that were over a year old,
2 were fed artificially, and 3 were brought up on the breast. One
suckled till he was 16 months old, a condition that was injurious
to the mother as well as to the child. Of the 23 children under
a twelvemonth old, 16 were brought up by artificial means, and
7 on the breast.
These diseases give rise to Diarrhoea and vomiting, and are
caused by some irritation, such as sour milk, starchy or other
indigestible food. The saliva, or spittle, in infants is at first of
very small amount, especially in the first two months. It becomes
more abundant when teething begins. The chief function
of the saliva in the adult is to help the digestion of starch by
turning it into grape-sugar by means of an active principle or
ferment, which is present in the saliva. Not only is the saliva
scanty in the baby, but this active principle is almost entirely
absent till the baby is 6 months old. Therefore, to give starch
to a baby under 6 months old, in the form of nursery biscuits,
bread, corn flour, or patent babies' foods is to feed him on stuff
that nature has never intended him to be fed upon, and the