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9
substitute farinaceous food for milk, we shall certainly do wrong.
Indeed, until the eighth month, the child is absolutely incapable of
digesting anything but milk; and though a child fed upon a mess of
boiled bread, rusks, corn flour, or any other "patent" rubbish of a
like nature, will appear satisfied, yet it is simply from the fact of its
stomach being mechanically distended by what, for purposes of
nutrition, might just as well be so much sawdust and water. A great
many deaths are registered as owing to "dentition." Now, it must
not be forgotten that this is a perfectly natural process, and in a
healthy, properly-fed child should cause little or no constitutional
disturbance. But whatever be the character of the illness from which
the poor child is suffering— especially if it should happen that at the
same time a tooth be about to pierce the gum—it is at once assumed
by the parents that the cause of the disease is dentition. A messenger
is immediately despatched to the nearest druggist for " teething"
powders, and the poor little child's intestinal tube is raked out with
calomel. Now, I am firmly persuaded that what is put down to
teething is really (in many instances) owing to farinaceous food ;
convulsions, and other derangements of the system, being more
frequently due to the presence of undigested food in the stomach and
intestines, than any other cause.
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COW HOUSES.
A considerable amount of attention has been devoted to the milk
supply of the parish. The whole of the cow houses have been carefully
inspected, defects pointed out, and improvements suggested.
Annexed to this report is a list of the cow sheds of the parish, with
short notes of the condition in which each was found at the period of
my visit. Unfortunately our powers extend to the licensed cow
keepers only. We have no control whatever over the milk sellers
who obtain their milk from the country. Milk is brought up in cans
by the night trains, and carried by the retailers to their own premises,
where it often remains for many hours. These premises are frequently
dirty little shops, or back kitchens (probably having an untrapped
drain in some corner), and close to the rooms in which the families