o-L SOME CHECKS TO INFANTILE MORTALITY 



of its future. He said: "What we want is population; we want 

 immigration." "Well," I said, "there is another means of having 

 population, and it is indicated in the Bible, 'grow and multiply.' " 

 He replied: ''Well, you know, in Brazil we admire France so 

 much that we follow your example and we have ceased to have 

 large families." I answered: "Quite right, follow then the 

 example of France, but follow it closely, and when you have near 

 200 inhabitants per square mile, take a rest if you think fit, but 

 as long as you have only six per square mile you need have no 

 fear of outstripping us." 



The situation in France is, therefore, not one of absolute alarm, 

 but it is a serious question none the less, death and life in certain 

 years being almost equal. France, as you may know, is a great 

 producing, but it is more especially a great preserving country. 

 The question of infant mortality could not fail therefore to draw 

 the attention of some of our best men. About 20 years ago Dr. 

 Budin, to whom your chairman has just paid a well-deserved 

 tribute, started a movement of paramount importance for France, 

 I may say for the world. His idea was very simple, it was 

 almost obvious, as are many great discoveries. He observed that 

 physicians took care of the mother and let the infant child take 

 care of itself. The result of this system has been such and the mor- 

 tality so great that our scientists acknowledged then that between 

 a man of 90 and a child of 1 day the chance of living one week 

 was in favor of the man of 90. In many parts of the country out of 

 two children one was sure to die ; in the more thickly populated in- 

 dustrial quarters in certain cities out of three children two were 

 sure to die. Dr. Budin thought that the thing to do was first to 

 learn, secondly to teach. He studied with the most thoughtful care 

 what could be done and then set to working and teaching. He 

 thus came to establish his "Consultations for Nurslings," which 

 have done wonders. Mothers come again and again, every week 

 bringing their young children; the children are examined and 

 the mothers are instructed how to rear their offspring to strong, 

 healthy man and womanhood, and produce citizens to enjoy a 

 useful life. He especially taught that obvious thing, which, like 

 so many other obvious things, had been generally lost sight of 

 once more: for when a thing is obvious no one deems it worth 

 while to think of it, and so it may become forgotten and have to 

 be discovered again. The reasserted doctrine was that children 

 were meant to be nursed by their own mothers, that the use of 

 the best cow's milk, and the most scientifically prepared, could 

 not compare with the mother's milk, itself much better than the 

 milk of somebody else's mother. 



None the less, there are cases when recourse has to be had to 

 cow's milk; mothers were taught then what sort of sterilized 



