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73
Cows Milk, &c. Of the other forms of food, cows milk
occurred most frequently, and was found to be the only food taken
by 40 per cent, of the cases investigated. It is not surprising to
find this high proportion of milk fed children among the fatal cases.
Milk is a fluid that at all times and especially in the summer months,
is mostly highly prone to contamination and decomposition, and the
conditions under which it is at present conveyed from the cow to the
purchaser almost guarantee that it shall receive contamination to
the fullest extent. The unclean cow-shed, the ungroomed or
diseased cow, and the milker with soiled hands and clothes, are the
chief characteristics of most of the dairy farms in the country. Add
to these, in many cases, an impure supply of water for cleansing
cans, etc., and here, at the very outset, the grossest pollution of the
milk supply takes place. In the up-to-date milk shop where the
milk arrives some hours later, the shining tiles and vessels (excellent
things in themselves) can do little to correct this initial fault. The
small general shop, however, where it is sold in pennyworths and
half-pennyworths at a time, can and does add to the pollution
through the medium of flies and dusty atmosphere.
Similar conditions meet it in the home, itself unclean in many
cases, and where the milk is too often carelessly stored and improperly
handled. This was a point very frequently observed in
the course of the investigation.
The above remarks, to some extent, apply also to condensed milk,
which it is seen, formed the food of more than 28 per cent, of the
fatal cases enquired into.
Method of Feeding. Observations were also made on the
way in which the food was given to the children. In very few
instances was there found any attempt at regularity in feeding, the
general answer to the enquiry on this point being " we feed him
when he cries," showing small appreciation of the fact that even
infants can suffer from other conditions of the stomach besides
emptiness.