70 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
INFANTILE DIARRHEA 
There are 75,200 deaths, annually, due to diarrhea in chil- 
dren under 2 years of age, a mortality exceeding the sum of 
the death caused by measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, 
diphtheria and typhoid fever by 6,000. 
This loss of life is mainly preventable. It is due to summer 
heat, want of care, ignorant feeding, improper food and bad 
hygiene. Many of these deaths would be avoided if maternal 
feeding was more common. Holt has shown that the death 
rate of the artificially fed infant to the breast nourished is in 
the ratio of 32 to 1. Maternal feeding requires little effort 
or care; artificial feeding demands intelligence, judgment and 
the means for the purchase of the proper food. Artificial 
feeding per se is not to blame, but ignorant feeding, the giving 
of contaminated or improper food or the failure to modify 
the quality and quantity of clean wholesome food to the needs 
of each child. 
Heat seems to bear a direct relation to the occurrence of 
"summer diarrhea." It affords a better opportunity for the 
growth of bacteria in the child's food and for an increase of 
the normal flora of the intestine. It may so influence normal 
digestion and metabolism as to lead to the formation of toxic 
substances which may cause diarrhea. 
Enteritis may be largely prevented by maternal feeding. 
The distribution of clean milk and the instruction of the moth- 
er in its modification to meet the special needs of her child, will 
do much to reduce the incidence of diarrhea. Strict attention 
should be given to the cleanliness of the nursing bottles, nipples 
and to the hygiene of the baby. The clothing of the child 
should be determined by the temperature rather than by tra- 
dition. Congested living quarters should be avoided and the 
infant should be kept out of doors as much as possible. The 
months of July and August should be spent in the country; if 
this is not feasible, the child should have the full benefit of the 
parks. 
THE DEGENERATIVE DISEASES 
Deaths due to lesions of the heart, kidneys and blood vessels, 
the diseases of old age, are on the increase. They are becom- 
ing more frequent before fifty and many individuals are dying 
