698 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 



With regard to the British depots, it may be said that there 

 appears to be, if not divergent views, at any rate a divergence in the 

 method and procedure adopted. On the one hand, the energies of the 

 sanitary and municipal authorities are directed ahnost entirely to the 

 feeding of the babies with a suitable but artificial milk supply, while, 

 on the other hand, eveiy effort is being concentrated on the nursing 

 mothers. 



Of the British depots, the former method of procedure is that of 

 the St. Pancras and Lambeth Borough Councils, the latter that of 

 Battersea and Liverpool. 



There is evidence to show that at Battersea, St. Pancras, Liver- 

 pool, and other places, these specialised milk supplies for infants have 

 been of service in the reduction of infantile mortality. The infant 

 milk deput is not, however, of the nature of control of the general 

 milk supply, but rather of a specialised supply to meet special needs. 



The St. Pancras scheme includes both a municipal and a philan- 

 thropic branch. " The latter is centred around the Babies' Welcome 

 and School for Mothers, wliere dinners are provided for suckling 

 mothers, classes are held on simple cookery, lessons are given on food, 

 food values and prices, on the cutting out and making of babies' 

 clothes, the preparation for and care of babies, and on housewifery 

 and domestic health." 



The municipal part of the St. Pancras scheme is administered by 

 the medical officer of health, assisted by a woman inspector, who, on 

 her part, has the assistance of voluntary visitors. Inquiries are made 

 as to the surroundings of the mother and infant, and general infor- 

 mation is imparted to the mother, including the importance of breast- 

 feeding and of seeking medical advice before weaning from the breast. 



At the Battersea depot, milk, which has been modified to suit 

 infants of varying ages, is given to applicants who produce an intima- 

 tion from a medical man that the case is suitable, while the attend- 

 ance of the children at the depot is made the opportunity for periodical 

 weighings and for observing the effects of the milk upon the infants. 

 The milk is supplied by a contractor, and the source of the milk 

 supply is inspected and controlled by the Borough Council. 



On arriving at the depot the milk is strained, modified, bottled, 

 and the quantity of milk in each bottle is sufficient for one meal, and 

 no more. The milk is given to the baby from the depot bottle 

 through a short rubber teat supplied at the depot, and as each meal 

 is in a separate bottle a '"' feeding bottle" with its dirt and germs 

 becomes unnecessaiy. 



The efforts of the British local authorities, adopting one or the 

 other of the methods above described, will be watched with much 

 interest, and it is probable that a solution of the infantile mortality 

 problem will be found in a combination of the principles involved in 

 the two schemes. The object of the deput being the saving of life and 

 prevention of infant diseases, it is necessary that either system be 

 individualised. 



Each mother and each infant, each home, and each cow from 

 which the milk is derived, must be separately supervised. 



An Infants' Milk Depot run on much the same lines as the one at 

 Battersea is shortly to be established in Brisbane, and many poor 



