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51
The issue of the above leaflets is justified by the experience
which we have gained in our inquiries into these Diarrhœal deaths.
As stated in a preceding paragraph, the necessity to emphasize the
importance of suckling the child is shown by the fact that only one
wholly breast-fed infant died. In 44 instances the mother was not
employed in any occupation but housework, and it may be taken for
granted that only a small number was compelled to wean the child
prematurely for physical reasons. If inability to suckle had been
the cause of weaning, one would expect to find some instances where
th? child had been partly on the breast and partly on the bottle.
The advice to use cow's milk was not generally followed. Thirtyfour
were fed on cow's milk, 31 on condensed milk, and 10 on various
proprietary foods.
The only possible point in favour of the use of condensed milk
is that it is rendered sterile in its process of manufacture; but in the
majority of the houses where it is used that advantage is destroyed
within a few hours of the opening of the tin. In one respect one has
to report a great advance. The bottle with the rubber tubing is
steadily going out of fashion. Thirty-four boat-shaped bottles were
in use and 16 bottles with rubber tubing. Nothing can be more
objectionable than the latter. It is impossible to keep it clean. The
milk and the warm water decompose the rubber, and the exposed
rubber becomes a place of deposit for filth.
In Infantile Diarrhœa, the most important factor undoubtedly
is improper feeding, but it must not be inferred that the whole problem
ends with the conditions that obtain within the house of the
consumer. The whole question of the milk supply is intimately bound
up with the prevention of Summer Diarrhœa. Prior to its delivery
to the consumer, the milk may become contaminated at the farm,
and during its distribution, and the practical question is, what could be
done to secure a milk supply pure enough to be used with safety for
infants who are artificially fed?
In Acton, the conditions have materially changed within recent
years. Twenty years ago most of the milk was, produced within the
district or in the immediate neighbourhood. At the present time only