Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-21
THE MORTALITY OF INFANT;S--
Some Of the Causes for Its ReinH So
Large I'm Summer.

From the N. 7. Times, 18th.
small audience was scattered around on the
Re inches in one of the lecture rooms of the Col
iege OF Physicians and Surgeons at 4th avenue
and 23d street last night, when the New York
County Medical association held its meeting
THE Summer Diarrlea of Infants paper by
DR.. J. Lewis Smith, was begun by statistics
which showed that nine times as many children
died from this malady in the five summer
months including May and September. as in
the other seven. OF the total deaths of children
in the city SO per cent were due to this malady
and IS per cent of the victims were under five
years. The same is practically true. DR.. Smith
said. in other cities here and in Europe. The
disease does not extend to country districts to
any extent. Hence its prevalence is not due to
atmospheric heat entirely, since this is almost
the same in country and in town, but to nox-
ious effiuvia in addition. and the gases which
they impart to the air. The speaker here men,
toned the frightful filth in the city during the
summer months, which is encouraged by large
families being crowded into such close quarters
Another cause of death, he continued was in
the nutrition of infants. feeding by bottle, sub
shutting cows milk for human milk feeding
at table and overtaxing digestive powers. The
mothers milk was OF course, the best, and cow
milk the best substitute. When COW milk was
to be used. 1t should always be peptOnized in
small quantities. 1t is a popular mistaken be-
lief, he declared. that dentatIon or teething has
anything to do with diarrhe8. This belief caused
great trouble. as the adv ance of the darrhea is
very slow at first, and mothers suppose that
their children's allment is due to teething and
learn their mistake only when emaciatiOn be-
gins. The speaker believed that the disease
was infammatOry. The curatives were good
food first, mothers milk, or peptonized COW
milk, or if farinaceOus food be used. wheat
boiled to aid digestion; in addition, pure air and
light medicine to check the diarrhea
DR.. H. A. POoles, Of Goshen, next took up the
subject and spoke of the Importance Of pure
milk. The death-roll from this disease decreased
1864 in 1888. when the attack of the previous
year against aduterated milk had resulted in q
reduction OF the amount of that article sold from
zoo. 600 quarts a day to 1O0, Goo The work was
not yet done, he declared, and 1t was the duty
of every physician to see to the purity of HIS
patients milk. Good milk could be gotten
within four hours OF New York. vet the dealers
brought it from the extreme portion of the
states where they could get it cheapest. The
consequence was that it reached consumers 4S
to 81 hours after being drawn from the cow,
even il it had not passed through adulteratng
processes.
Prof. Leeds, of Stevens Institute. said that
there were no printed statistics as to the purity
of water, very few facts concerning the purity
or impurity of the atmosphere, and but little
known of the chemical constituents of human
or cow milk. He had found. to his astOnish-
ment, rain water much more impure than the
water in streams. This was due to the scrub
bng process which 1t underwent in falling
through an impure atmosphere. Human milk
contains, he said, ~ per cent of fat and COW
and COW milk about per cent.