Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-11-21
Irfant Mortality In Large cities.

D Meredith Reese, NJ. D., Of New York. has
repde red the public vsIus bic ssrvic in fhe pre-
PARTON Of report to the American Medical Asso-
citation in snt mortality in lsrre cities the
cPs of hs increase. and means Of it. din mutton
The snhi ct i. treated with much abiIitv and IL IL
20 Re hc ped the STARTLING fscts embodied viii be
EiaeIv disse minated. InduIitable evidence exists
thst while infant mortality is diminishing in the
cities of Europe, it has attsned gigantic propor-
fiors among ms, and IL increasing with amazing
raDi4itv: and this too when the general sslubrity
OF cmste and the facilities for sustaining and
pres ryng life with Us. superior TO those pos
sessed bv ary country on the globe" It is shown
nv saiistic,l table that the whole mortality Of the
last half century. in the city of New York, amount
ed 10 363 PAP v hill rhe rumher of de"ths under
fUe pears of Oge was I76 O43 or neary 40 cent.
Of rhe whole. The ssma table affords evidence of
the fearful increase Of infant mortality in the fact
that bile the number of deaths under five years
only 5SS in TIE war l843, it reached the
srfuI aggregate of 10 963 in the wear 1853-only
ten We r sni sequent exceeding all the other inter-
merts for that year by 8 224. Such fats az these
being peculiar to American cities, the inquiry pre-
cents self-'Whv should infant mortality be great
here than in Paris, eight per cent. above Glas.
Cow ten per cent above Liverpool, and nearly thrr-
ten per cent greater than in Loudon?"
In proceeding to designate the cause of the infant
mortality, above noticed, the Report premises thst
eve include all those int rmeDts marked az still
born and premature births, the extent of which,
and especially their amazing increase, constitutes
one of he most revolving and yet of the most
important features of our inquiry, ard one which
cannot b. contemplated without horror, this class
being equal to one-fth OF the entire infant mortal
ity OF the last half century. This branch of the
subject il treated at much length, and revolutions
are made which it a 'shame to name" but
which, nevertheless, demand attention. The con-
cuson arrived at, that a radical revolution 10 the
public creed and practical thorough reform
in
masses of our city population, indispensable to
eny diminutOn, either OF the extent increase Of
the evil here noticed. So far as the agCravating
ciuses amenable to legal sanctions, remedies
are prescribed: LIST. To prevent marriage be-
tive p TsOns subject to hereditary disc ses. ID.
To provide founding hospitals snn lying-in-asy-
lums, which shall be open to all. Sd. To require
the 'r ctiOn OF dwellings, for the poor in accord
ance With the laws of health aud lie with d
taIy medical police to enforce such laws as may be
necessary for their regulation. 4th. The founding
OF h' spiIas fer the reception of the offspring Of the
ind cent 9th. TIE prohibition of distiIlerits in
the nCil hhOrhood of riti in order to prevent the
supply of ''slop milk" bich they almost inVaria-
bly, lurDi-h. This last point is dwslt at length,
and with emphasis. We extract the following !:
sour profession has ever and anon sought to
public attention to this important subject,
but in vain. Distilleries in or near large cities
would be ntolerable nuisance anG curse, apart
from the mischief of their manufacture OF alcoholic
drinks in view Of the single fact, that wherever
they xist their sops will furnish the cheapest food
for VS., the milk from which is more pernicious
AMI fatal to health and life than alcohol itself to
adults poisoning the very fountains OF life So long
d. tllrries tolerated in cities, stables will
be their appendages, and the milk, fraught with
sickness and DEATH will still perpetuate mortality,
especially among the children of the poor. All the
artificial authorizations of milk, by water chalk
&c, harmless, nay, laudable, compared with
the poi-OnOus supply obtained from COWS fed on dis
tillery slope, for this poison chemistry itself af
fords no antidotP since it defes all anal syn
th.sis poison su geners, utterly destructive both
Of health and life"
IL conclusion, some reference is made TO the ef
Terminate modes OF life and fashionable folIies of the
times of which productive of evil. The
position is taken that such mortality has been
described above, so fenIfully destructive of life,
and proceeding solely from the most fragrant abuse
of the painest laws OF nature, need not and ought
not 10 be any longer continued; that 'ii the sources
END causes WheEce the sppsllinF fatality in infancy
and q iidhOod have been demon stTated to flow, be
such as are immovable by the instrumentnlity of
public and private hygiene, and the general intro
GuctOn Of sanitary It forms into the popular creed
and practice, then We may leg timately urge the
means and measures suggested for its dminutiOn as
en- rtly worthy OF consideration and regard. p
baltimore american.