Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-06-20

unfmprOVed condition, 10 refused
treatment and died When there is
room for them, we'll children whom
the mothers cannot leave at home are
allowed to go down the harbOr for the
day. These sit out on the fore deck
and play games under the direction Of
trained Kindergarten. A familiar
picture last year when the boat re-
turned in the afternoon was a mother
bing in an Office building and to whom
the opportunity to send the youngest
away for the day was an incalculabe
boon. The total number of trips made
by we'll and sick children with their
mothers or sisters in attendance agrge-
gated last year 1870.
Not the least of the benefits is that
of the education impaired to mothers
who either accompany the children on
the trips or who learn from them
some of the things done by the trained
attendants aboard. 1t is no eXaggera-
ton to say that the consumption
among little children of sour pickles,
sweet pickles green apples, onions,
black coffee, strong tea, beer and
whiSkey has been materially decreased
in Boston through the influence of the
floating hospital Not uncOmmOnly
has a mother come down to the boat
with sick baby who had a pickle in
his mouth-a direct evidence of the
cause of it's ailment.
A particularly beneficial hygienic
feature aboard the boat is the food
laboratory, which has already made
important contributions to present day
knowledge of infant feeding. Its
greatest achievement, perhaps, up to
this time, has been the attainment Of
an almost unprecedented quality Of
milk-that is to say, of Tactic mix
lures which very closely approximate
the human article. Cows milk, as al
most everybody knows, practically, ii
not theoretically, contains about four
times as much curd as does human
mix. 1t is, therefore, in it's natural
form not absolutely a proper food for
young children. To render it more
digestible is a problem fer the chem
list, and it is one which the experts of
the food laboratory Of the Boston
floating hospital believe that they have
pretty we'll solved. They have ar
rived at very satisfactory milk mix
lures, so far as percentages of sugar
and proteid go. At the same time
~
ton of sterilizing, for they succeed in
reducing the number of bacteria per
cubic centimeter from the 100000,
which the Boston Board of Health
sets as the outside limit of safety,
down to as low as a bare $50 bacteria
to the same quality of milk. Harm
ful germs, in general, are banished
from this substitute for the fire e@-
cape hospital"
This charitable undertaking is de-
pendent upon the voluntary contrlbu-
tions of individuals and associations.
It has long been the custom to give
individuals the privilege of naming a
days trip as a memorial, usually to
SOHIC uCICdoCu AAACho "a ~ OAf
it may be, in honor of some living per-
SON.. The sum fixed by the trustees
for this opportunity is $3.50, and so
generally are the days taken that the
custom has also grown up Of naming
the nights in the same manner at
cost of 800 1t has become a species
of noblesse oblige among the well-to-
do of Boston and the neighborhood 70
take at least one day or night for the
support of the floating hospital. The
institution is conducted like any other
good hospital, with board of trustees,
a visiting staff, an auxiliary staff, q
resident physician, house staff. sew
eral medical assistants, and forty or
fifty graduate nurses. Not among the
largest contributors to its support, but
now and then among the most enthu,
siastic are the recipients themselves
Ct the benefits of the charity. 1t IS
not uncommon for the manager, q.
Loring Briggs, TO receive in an en-
veloDe a dollar or two dollars from |
some grateful parents who feel that
heir child's life has been saved, and |
Who wish TO give what their means al |
ow towards saving the lives of others