The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-14
DISEASE IN TEE MILK.
One of the Causes of the Mortality
Among Children.

]
Among Children.
The great fatality among infants during
/ the hot, dry weeks Of May and June
swelled the mortuary list 70 a degree dis
couraging 70 the medical fraternity, and
has set them TO studying how 1t may lie
| decreased.
! Among those who have been investigating
the subject patiently Is DR.. f. II. Nichols,
and he said last night that
/ lie was led to it by the large
| percentage # deaths among infants under
/ l year, which he places at p per cent. tie
has concluded that this fatality
IS largely due to Scores IN
the milk food of infants By the
| heat Of the stomach the food is rapidly de
velOped into countless spores. which may
be detected ty the greenisd discharges OF
the infant, and which condition In the little
| PATIENTS has SO often resisted medical treat
ment
Or. Nichols says that having detected
| these scores in the milk under the micro
! scope. he concluded that the milk could be
sterilIze1, and if so, then it would lose none
of Its nutrltlve qualities, and with the
spOre life destroyed would be beautiful
food for infants and obviate the diseases
occas stoned by the use of food feculent
with agencies destructive to the lives Of
children.
Yesterday Dr. Nichols obtained some
cows milk, comparatively fresh and uu-
aiulterated, and examining it under the
microscope, found II contained spores. lie
then obtained four nursing bottles, and,
filling them vita milk, aud using common
cotton to stop the necks of the bottles, he
placed them i tin oven fitting closely into
a copper vessel half full of water, the
bottle SO arranged on perforated shelves in
ba hit f~.a of ~
rlse in the oven, and the copper
vessel was then placed on q common
gas stove and steam gener tied. After
being submitted to the steam bath for
thirty-eight minutes the milk was removed
from the oven and an exatnination under
the microscope disclosed the fact that the
milk had been thoroughly sterilized, as no
siga of spore life was visible.
BY this process the milk can be kept for
long time without fermentation, and tho
flavor of the milk is improved rather than
injured by tho process.
DR. Nichols says that large percentage
of infants are artifclally fed. That is the
nursing bottle and cows milk are reverted
to. The best milk, in this climate soon UNI
dergOes the fermentiug process, and the
spores multiply rapidly the single spOre 5000
becomes two, the two four, four split into
eight and the process is kept uD by the ami
nal heat of the stomach. The milk NAV
come from the slop-fed cow the COW that
drinks from Bilbo canal and the ill-fed COW.
to say nothing of the adulterated milk. To
insure the safety of the child its food must
be steriiz3d.
In addition to the character Of the milk,
the doctor says the bottles, and the attach
ments of the bottles, do not have the atten-
ton they require. Every bottle should
have not less than half dozen rubbers,
and these should be frequently cleaned
with solution of common cooking soda
and water, and then rinsed freely under the
hydrant, while the bottle itself should be
| treated in the same manner, or
better STILL submitted to a steam tenn
perature. The doctor says that something
must be done to lessen the fatality among
infants in the heated season, and he thinks
that the sterilization of the food and the
exercise of greater care with them will ma
| terlaIly contribute to the end sought to be
attained. He expects to continue his in
veStigations and experiments, one of which
is to test how long the sterilized milk may
be safely kept for use. OF oae thing, how
ever, ne is confident, and that is that the
milk may be kept for a week. and its abso
Lutte purity maintained, and ne prefers the
raw cotton stopple.