FACTS CONCERNING MILK 167 



It has been shown that as the result of vexation, disappointment, 

 grief and kindred emotions certain highly organized chemical products 

 are elaborated within the economy which find their way into the blood 

 stream and thus into the mother's milk, rendering it more or less harm- 

 ful to the infant receiving it. Hence, if it were possible during the 

 period of lactation to transmute all women representative of the classes 

 above indicated into wholesome, phlegmatic German peasant mothers, 

 our milk problem in its multiform aspects would be wonderfully 

 simplified. The present social order not only makes impossible such 

 conditions, but we must calmly face a future in which maternal in- 

 efficiency in this regard will be even accentuated. 



Some of us believe the solution of the vexed question of the over- 

 population of the earth is resident in this problem of artificial feeding, 

 particularly as certain statistical relationships seem to be springing up 

 between the notorious modern birth rate and inefficient maternal 

 nourishment, and we are learning that unsatisfactory as is artificial 

 feeding at its best and perilous as it may become, it is, in any event, 

 much more likely to be productive of good results than the attempt 

 to nourish an infant on the milk of the mother physically, occupa- 

 tionally and temperamentally unfit. 



Again, our apprehension must not be transformed into despair, for 

 unremitting educational endeavors will ultimately insure a better milk 

 supply and greater intelligence in its use. So while milk is regarded 

 the most perfect of all foods for the young or old, in sickness or in 

 health, the milk problem is virtually the children's problem, for cows' 

 milk, modified in accordance with the requirements of each particular 

 case, has been found to be the only practical method by which nature's 

 plans for early nourishment of the human infant may be successfully 

 imitated. Any attempt" at the solution of this question, therefore, 

 which fails to emphasize our guardianship of the interests of the 

 child would be calamitous. 



Surgeon-General Walter Wyman of the Public Health Service says : 



The steady decrease in general mortality does not apply to infants. It is 

 recognized that gastro-intestinal disease is the largest single factor determining 

 infant mortality. This enormous loss of potential wealth is of grave concern 

 to the state and worthy of most careful consideration. 



Further he says : 



Dr. Eager gives figures to prove that the high infant mortality may be 

 attributed almost entirely to impure milk. 



Inasmuch as one child in every twenty in our large centers of popu- 

 lation dies before five years of age of maladies traceable directly or 

 indirectly to contaminated cows' milk, it may be well to outline very 

 briefly some of the properties of this indispensable food and a few of 

 the problems associated with its production and supply. 



