, 1889-04-09
CHARITY IN PARIS.
Nurturing the Babes of tho Poor Quarters
on tho Milk of Asses.


Nurturing the Babes of tho Poor Quarters
on tho Mil of Asses
In recent years, in France, conscien-
tious efforts have been made to ascertain
the principal causes of the loss of popu-
lation, and 1t has been demonstrated by
numerous facts that one of these causes
consists In the physical degeneration in
duced by deficiency of Authorization In
infancy; and the most eminent physi-
clans of Paris, and the director of public
assistance, have endeayored to modify
and improve the system of nutrition in
the public charitable institutions, provid-
ing for recently born children ~lactation
adequate to the necessities of the tenn
permanent and constitution.
In the Hospital for Infants Diseases,
situated in Sabres street, there exists n
section for rickety boys and girls, whose
miserable aspect produces an impression
of pain upon the mind-unfortunate be-
ings who have inherited the organic
vices Of their parents, and who suffer
from anemia's cruel fortunes.
The administration of the hospital is
arranged in two separated pavilions,
where there is much ventilation, with
"a Bc LllONb lilAi lOOh Oul uDOl u HhI-
den, and whose walls have double rows
of willow cradles perfectly equipped.
The newly born receive hero the personal
care of the establishment, beginning
with being weighed In the balance the
same day they make their appearance,
he operation being frequently repeated
almost every month In order to determine
with exactness the development of the
child. The little one is subjected to an
especially nutritious dict OF the most
tonic kind, IL 1t had been previously fed
from a refractory goat liable to convey
contagious germs, it having been found
by experiment that the milk of this ami
NAL, although possessing nutritive prin-
ciples of the most salutary kind, presents
the Inconvenience of communicating by
absorption the effects of those nervous
accidents to which tho goat Is subject.
Tho public charities Of Paris, advised
by the wise doctors of medicine, have
substituted for the milk of goats that of
the ass, and have installed an ample yard
near the pavilion of tho rickety and
s~crofulous children, which Is only sepa-
rated by n short covered passageway.
Nothing is moro picturesque than the
spectacle Of the lactation of the babes in
this inclosure every morning.
The nurses, dressed In dark gowns
with white caps and aprons, each carry
ing n child on the right arm and a little
seat In the left hand, present themselves
in exact turn to tho women who have
charge of the animals, and they hold the
child, applying its lips to the teats of the
docile animal. The children suck with
avidity the liquid nutriment, which is
fresh and of agreeable taste.
The administration of public assist
ance of Paris has calculated that one
young ass is able to lactate a~bundantly
for a space of nine or ten months, and
when this period has passed they are
sold and replaced by others. 1t is well
known that the milk of asses, by its
v~ivifying qualities and its nutritious
principles, assimilates in a great degree
the milk of the nurse, and these disin-
herited and sick children, enjoying its
beneficial effects by its permanent and
m~ethodical use, arc restored little by
little to health and vigor.-La Ilustra-
cion Espanola