Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-12
DISCUSS BABIES AS
POTENTIAL CITIZENS
MEET FOR PREVENTION OF
INFANT MORTALITY
Prominent Physicians and Laymen
Convene at New Haven, Conn.
Evil Effects of Alcohol
Emphasized

NEW HAVEN, Nov. 11.-Prominent
physicians and laymen gathered here
today from all parts of the country for
the sessions of the conference, begin
ming today, for the prevention of infant
mortality, under the auspices of the
American Academy of Medicine.
Dr. j. III. Mason Knox jr of Johns
Hopkins university presided.
The importance of a baby as a po-
tental citizen and the responsibility of
the community to the baby as the
citizen of the future were strikingly
brought out In the address of DR.. ].
II. Mason Knox jr, associate in .pedi-
atrics at the Johns Hopkins Medical
school, Baltimore, and chairman of the
session on medical prevention. The
program for that session included a
series of papers, each OF which consid-
cred specific phase of the problem
The relation of alcoholism to infant
mortality was discussed by the chair
man; the relation of blood poisoning
to infant mortality by the secretary Of
the section, DR.. r. A. Urquhart of the
Johns Hopkins Medical school; of tu-
bereulosis 10 infant mortality by Dr.
Clemens Won Pirquet. formerly of
Vienna, now. of the Johns Hopkins
Medical school; of mothers occupa-
tions to infant mortality by Or. Caro-
line Hedger of the Chicago United
Charities, and OF diet to infant mortal
1ty by DR.. j. p. Grocer Griffith of the
University of Pennsylvania. Touch
ing upon the problem as a whole, DR..
Knox said 1t is now generally recog-
nized that united effort will be neces-
sary to curtail the long prevailing in
fant mortality This of itself means n.
step forward. Physicians should be in
the van of the movement, he declared,
because, as a class, they are in a
position to understand more thor
oughly than the layman can the fac
tors which bring about this large death
rate among infants, and they know
how it can be much diminished.
Decries Alcoholism
"Public sentiment must be aroused"
he said, ''to insist upon suitable
hygienic surroundings, adequate care
and proper diet for every newborn
babe. The minimum of these require
ments must be pointed out by the
physician. No field in medicine is
more enticing.
"The potential energy of an infant
saved from death by proper medical
care and9 nursing supervision cannot
possibly be reckoned. The future of
these little lives cannot be foretold as
can the lives of adults saved from dis
ease. 1t behooves us then, as physi-
clans to investigate thoroughly every
source of this appalling death rate,
and to make them known to the pub
lie, at the same time suggesting rem
edies.
Among the factors directly and in
directly destructive to the life of in
fants in this country, and in most
civilized countries, is acute and chronic
alcoholism of the Darents The low
cred vitality of the parents consequent
upon the habitual use of alcohol has
a direct effect on the vitality of the
child. If alcohol is INDUCED in in large
quantities by the expectant mother
1t will be apparent in a lowered vitality
of the child. The indirect effect of
chronic alcoholism in the home on the
life of the young child is to weaken its
powers of resistance to disease. and to
deprive 1t of the right which every
child should have for a normal healthy
existence"