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give up suckling and deliver up their babies to the bottle on the
advice of ignorant friends and relatives, because the milk appears
to disagree with the baby.
What results have followed the establishment of these depots?
Various figures have been given containing the mortality of depotfed
children with the general infantile mortality of a district. This
method is so beset with fallacies as to be almost useless. The first
year of life is not one period, but a collection of age periods, and
the mortality during the first week is higher than that of any
subsequent week. The mortality falls gradually from the first day
of birth to the eighth month. Naturally, very few children under
one month would attend a depot, so that the comparative figures
lose their value.
There is no doubt, as to the value of these depots
in this country, though the period of observation is too short to
attach too much importance to the figures. In this connection,
the New York figures are of interest. The Straus Milk Charity
was established in 1892, and has since steadily increased its area of
operation. The infantile mortality has been reduced from 96 per
1,000 to 55 in 1906. But it must be remembered that the Straus
Milk Charity was not the only ameliorative influence which came
into operation after 1892. But there is one method of comparison
which is not vitiated by outside factors. In 1896, Mr. Straus installed
in the Infant Asylum at Randall's Island, New York City
a complete plant for the pasteurization of milk.
The following figures give the death-rate per cent, in the years
before and after the installation of the plant:—
1895 42
1896 39
1897 44
1898 19
1899 24
1900 27
1901 18