New-York daily tribune., 1854-08-24
MORTALITY or INFANTS.

I NOklALll1 Ot INf ANS.
To "A, rS,ar of The " v. Tfs-se
SIR: The Baltimore Patriot of a date quite recent
SAYS: " In the Cites Of New-lOrk Philadelphia and
baltimore last week. cut Of to,al Of ,724 deaths,
"1,C2S, within fraction Of two-thirds The must
"resn three-fithsl of the whole number were chill
'dren under five ears Of age This, be ADDS is q
frieLtul exhibit and should appeal strongly to the
medical talent Of the country for explanation OF
the causes Of So disProportionate mortality. and
the remedial measures that nay prevent u from be-
oon inc permanent feature IL the health reports OF
our cities"
The Indeprrdent of New.York. for Aug II. SAYS
that durrg the preceding week be number of deaths
in the same three cities 790 of whom 936 were
under FIVE years. This is almost three.fftbs under
five years. IL is, ia any event more than One-haL
Either proportion is startling, and is quite beyond
the average for the whole county. Tor the
season Taking the whole year together and com.
pairing one year with another il has appeared to me-
for some time past that the mortality Of infants was
frghtful and frglttully increasing. For few years
pa1t it cannot hsve been less ,han twoi iths of the
whole number under FIVE years. And only about
ltlf Of those who arc born reach the age of ten.
After deplorins the sad necessity of cOnsigning So
many Thousands to what he cals-strsnso 10 tell -
premature graves" vhen theirs are such 0pp0rtun
ties for providing them with the necessries and COM
forts of life and consequently Of cherhng and pro-
tectng them lie goes In strain still more unusual
lie observes:
Nor is this mortality confined to the children of the
a
doubt not show that il is chiefly among those who are
surrounded with ell the comforts and in many instances
with the uxuries which riches command that mfantie
diseases end the and unressiIng victims
Is the man sane who dares to doubt the commonly
received doctrine that the poor almost exclusively
the victims Of premature disease and 10 suggest the
indulry whether the awful mortality to which he
fes il not chiefly among the rich after all Are there
such things as strait jackets south of Mason aud
DiXons line Should he not thea beware
q. - =.
light word 1t is due to the community to understand,
aud the medical talent OF the country ought to reveal
the fact that though there numerous of this
Bfantile mortay apart ofthem nearly alike appli
cal e among the rich and the poor lido not say quite
applicable in the one class as the other but the differ
ence is not very great. Nearly all our people at
the present day rich enough TO purchase and use
saeratus and confectionery, and the number of the
children in city or country is exceedingly small that do
not eat large amount of unrpe and imperfect fruit.
Perhaps the country people eat rather green
fruit cooked and uncooked, than the city people; but
in the use Of confectionery and cOndmens-saleratus
especialy-t is highly probable they fall little be-
hind them.
1t is said 10 be a common remark among physicians
in the Province Of New Brunswick that mothers kill
half their children with saleratus. have had the
means Of knowing something Of the Of this drug in
the cookery Of that region, ard the reader
that it is truly irehul. But Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut NewYork and even Ohio, to my equally
able housekeepers in all these States, except Ohio
confess to the of ten twelve pounds OF it in
yeaT-wheIe their families only Of the average size;
and Col. Jons. Philips Of fitchburg whose praise is
in all the railroad companies Of that REGION told me
that in his faroily, Of ten persons they used
about tweDt .fva pounds of it yearly--and Mrs. p.
indOrsed the opinion. The most murderous comics
sion made To me in Ohio to the nhction OF about
eight pounds Of it yearly family of the
usual size. think however, that startling ccn-
fessions might have been made.
Observe, IL IS not the use Of this akali, in such
quantity and connections, that il to be alka
in the first passage but Its in excess that does the
mischief Thus, if a house-keeper has suffered her
bread to be Oyer-ri,en as it is termed that is. ifa
quantity greater less OF acetic acid IL developed and
she us saeratus enough to neutralize the acid
10 harm il done of consequence. The residuum Of
acetate of potash can hardly be said to be hurtful
But if there is any free akai remaining in the bread
il has On being received into the body all its wOnted
effect or living mucous membranes. Ii produces
irritation and sub. b.infsmmation and If It's use is pre-
sisted D from day 10 dayas is the case in thousands
and millions of instances, al over the country-it pro-
duces liberation greater or less, organgrene.
Now let these children with the lining mucous mem
brane Of the alimentary canal in this angry sub
pasmed state be taken with the usual diseases of the
season and what is the consequence Why, that in
the first place they have the disease very severely and
in the second place they not likely to be relieved
by medicine unless it Is relief to hasten them out
OF the WOTiG--a tbng when mtdc.ne IN these cases
frequently had almost said inevitably, does.
Ii is in this indirect way that mothers hill their chl
dren with saleratus But there other causes be-
sides this which either by Themselves or in conjunction
with the akali tend TO the general result or at
least 10 increase that glorious uncertainty of medi
cine which, though it may benefit the pockets of phys
clans, sometimes humb.es their pride and makes them
medically skeptical while it renders society if not
Waldense, at least RAMA scene OF ismepation
and wo for the loss prematurey, Of balfrs children
Why if young domestic animals died al the rate our
Young human beings do, l know not what would be
thought Of our skill in treating them good friend
of nine, in Hartford, Conn, X shrewd man, whose
wife with his aid had reared ten children used to say
was as easy to rear family of ten children as lit
ter of ten pigs some OF our people in lc54. would
be 10th, / trow, to indorse his opinion.
Yours. truly, WA A. ALCOIT
.fs5tJa Ia!e. Ma. Aug ., IsSL