, 1886-07-23
THE Handled BABY.
A PECULIARLY UNFORTUNATE BEING
IN THE SUMNER TIME.

Hot Weather Troubles for the City In
fant-ContAmination of Cows MILK
Germs and Taints-Danrers Almost AS
Greatly to lie Fenrcd.
The handled baby is peculiarly unfor-
tunate in the summer time. The cows
milk, upon which 1t has to rely for the
greater part Of its nourishment, may be
derived from n swill-fed, city cow, that
has no opportunity to breathe the pure
air of the country or to secure natural
food. Such milk is, Mt best, poorly cal
aculated to furnish food for n delicate
child. II the animal has tuberculosis or
other wasting disease her milk is simply
poisonous. If the material supplied by
the generous milk can has been brought
from the green fields of the farms thirty
to fifty miles away, it has had to run the
gauntlet of a thousand dangers before the
city child has n chance to make nse of it
to sustain its feeble life. The milkmaid
may w been too lazy or careless to
properly cleanse the receptacle which first
receives it; the can that brings 1t to the
depot is, rs likely as not, In the same con-
dition as regards cleanliness; on the train
it may not be kept properly cooled; at the
milk depot dishonest servants may alb
stract the cream or increase its bulk with
water from the nearest well or other
source of impurity; while the milkman
himself may tamper with it on his rounds
in order to increase his own revenue.
But the dangers to which the milk has
been exposed before it reaches the family
are often small compared with those 1t en-
counters In the home-of rich and poor
alike. No matter what precautions have
been taken by farmer, transportation COM
pany and dealers, every particle of city
milk has become contaminated with the
germs of decomposition before it can be
delivered to the consumer. They may be
hindered from developing by one of two
methods-by boiling or by keeping the
milk cold. The former is the only safe
one, but it partially units it for food.
Boiling is effective only for a short time
so long as the surrounding air, laden with
new germs OF the same kind, has free ac-
cess to it. Keeping it cold with ice is be-
yond the financial ability of many; be-
sides, the ice used for this purpose may
have been cut from the surface of n stag
nant pond and be full of germs of decom-
position or of disease. The feeding bottle
is in n vast number of instances the I'M
suspected cause of death. Unless the ut
most care is taken with such bottles they
are sure to have portions OF d~ecomposing
MIN tAihbii6 W tutlit WIiCu Spttully SCb
up changes of the same sort when filed
with n fresh supply.
DANGERS ALMosT AS GREAT.
Children who have outgrown the feed
ing bottle are exposed to dangers almost
as great in the shape of hot bread, indi-
gestible cakes, pies, meats and stale vege-
tables. Food of the best quality, origi-
nally, is often spoiled by an ignorant cook
and rendered practically poisonous, es-
pecially for young children. Many a fatal
case of summer complaint" has been
traced to green apples, spoiled peaches,
raw cucumbers, rotten tomatoes, or some
form of pork or veal, such as the elder
members of the family have eaten with
term, especially if the sleeping quarters
are confined and not ventilated,
forces the skin TO do an unusual
mount of work. The effect of ex-
cessive sweating, il frequent baths
are not taken, is to set up irritation of the
surface that results in an eruption, the So
called "prickly heat" Irritation of the
skin interferes with sleep and increases
the general loss of strength besides, by
what the common mani calls ''sympa-
thy THE scientific people call it "reflex
action" which Is equally lucid, the mu-
cuous membrane which lines the entire
digestive apparatus becomes irritated
also. This is n common enough cause of
''summer complaint"
1t is easily to be seen, therefore, that
the great underlying u of all these
troubles, for they are at bottom one, is
the excessive heat of our m The
bad hygiene depends upon this for its fatal
consequences. The European writers. are
mostly of the opinion that cholera infan-
tum, which is the most rapidly fatal of
these affections, is an Americanism
They may be right to n certain extent, for
our conditions of climate are I'M
known among the countries of northern
and central Europe.-Cor. st. Louis
Globe Democrat.