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of suckling. If this function is once lost in a family, it is not likely
to be regained in subsequent generations.
Fortunately, the human organism is eminently capable of adapting
itself to circumstances, and in spite of the above facts, in a
majority of instances, healthy children can be brought up on the
bottle.
We have to consider what are the factors which compel artificial
feeding, to what extent they can be obviated, and when artificial
feeding becomes inevitable, can the conditions under which the
artificial food is handled be improved.
At the Census of 1901, there were 2,488 women employed in
the laundries of the district. The number has considerably increased
since then. There are at the present time 93 factory laundries
registered, and 230 workshop laundries. In addition, about 300
women are employed as homeworkers. It is probably no exaggeration
to state that 3,500 women are employed in the laundry
industry alone, and of these about 1,500 are married women or
widows.
From inquiries made, it may be stated that one-third of the
married women in the South-West Ward are employed in laundry
work. In 1906, 724 births were registered in this ward, and in
1907, 671, so that in this ward alone there are over 200 children
under one year of age who are, at any rate, +.o some extent, artifically
fed, as a result of this one factor. These women are occupied in
this employment, not from choice, but from necessity. But whatever
may be the cause, whether it be physical or economic, we are
face to face with this fact, that a large number of children are brought
up, either wholly or partially on the bottle.
For practical purposes, the only substitute for human milk
is cow's milk, and we have to consider to what extent a cleaner
and more pure supply of the latter can be brought within the reach
of these children who are brought up on the bottle without at the
same time offering an inducement to abandon suckling prematurely.