New-York tribune., 1910-08-28
Dragging the Innocenfs
Health Board ntervenes to Prevent the Sale OF Harm
full Medicines for FretfuI Babies.


Mothers use the pacifier mostly to quiet
their habies,'' said DR.. Sammis physician
in charge at Junior Sea Breeze. They
turn to that instead of TO medicines"
Isn't the microby pacifier about as bad
soothing syrup with laudanum In t?'
asked the reporter.
IF you,'' said the youthful DR.. Samn1is
severely. had nine or ten cross children
and CRYING baby. or maybe twins you'd
use the pacifier to quiet them. and be glad
TO-"
DR., John Cronin. of the Board Of Health.
who is in charge of the department Of
child hygiene during the absence on her
vacation of DR. Josephine Baker, says that
in the course of an extensive East Side
practice he mas found few homes where
mothers gave their babies soothing syrup or
paregoric. or anything like that Still, We
need the law to regulate the sale Of such
things he said. .'I'Il tell you what math-
ers give their. babies that hurts them
cough mixtures, when the child gets touch
Of bronchitis. Many of these cough MKT
ures have opium in them and are as harm
full as the soothing syrups, or worse. An
other thing the new law hits most
righteously is the so-called tuberculosis
tised on the poor
When DR. Bernard Hughes, house sur
geon at Flower Hospital, was told that
various institution physicians had said that
mothers no longer leaned on the soothing
syrup bottle he smiled grim, meaning
smile and shook his head.
L guess they don't get the babies from
around here under their observation" he
babies are doped with heaven knows what
You can't blame the ignorant mothers.
They have half a dozen children hanging
10 them; baby i'll nourished and sick and
fretful: the father comes home and says,
Keep that kid quiet, can't your Then
the mother goes out to the drug store and
buys some Stuf-she doesn't know what It
is. only the druggist tells her it will help
the baby OF course. it's rank, but who
or what is to blame? The condition Of
things.
I tell you a race of degenerates Is re-
sulting from these conditions. When 1 was
doing outdoor work for the hospitals 1
went into many home. if you could can
them So where all that the mother and
children had had to eat all day was q
bottle Of soup, hich. may be, they'd sen,
got. a baby under-nourished like that is
bound to be feeble. crying thing, and the
dope the mother gets from the drug store
is the finishing stroke"
of course. no hospitals give these in
furious soothing syrups to babiesf"
Don't be so sure" said Dr. Hughes.
Some hospitals; not the best ones. Of
course"
Dr. Christopher kock. Vice-president of
the Pennsylvania pharmac ceutical exanlin-
ing board. like Dr.. Lederer. believes that
much harm comes from the sale of medi-
cineS with dope" in them. He has been
busy gathering evidence, which he will lay
before the State Legislature next winter.
The druggists of Pennsylvania at his
back in demanding a law TO prevent the
sale Of soothing syrups and other remedies
for babies that contain cocaine and NOR
phine. The drug ha bit, they hold. is fire.
quently acquired early in life as result of
the administration Of these medicines The
penal law of New York State, strangely
enough. forbids the rehlling of a prescrip-
tion containing morphine, while saying
nothing about its sale without a preScrip-
ton which seems a good deal like locking
the barn door to keep in the horse that S
already stolen.