CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC MILK SUPPLY 473 



its use was unsafe. From these investigations it appears that the use of 

 these bottles for holding milk and other liquids subject to bacterial de- 

 composition is commendable when the temperature is kept below 50F. 

 but that they become highly dangerous if the temperature is allowed to 

 rise above this point. They should never be used to hold hot perishable 

 foods. 



Child Welfare Stations. Besides these rather general methods of 

 combating infant mortality the child welfare stations or infant milk 

 depots are used in more definite campaigns against the evil. In France 

 they may be traced back to the "L'Oevre de la Maternite" founded in 

 1890 by Hergott at Nancy. The mothers of children born in the institu- 

 tion under his charge were required to bring their babies back for examina- 

 tion 1 month after birth and were given a present of money if satisfactory 

 progress had been made. This charity was the precursor of the " Con- 

 sultation de Nourrisson" founded by Boudin at the Charite" Hospital at 

 Paris in 1892, at the Maternite Hospital in 1895 and at the Clinique 

 d'Accouchement Tarnier in 1898. There are two types of consultation 

 de nourrisson, namely: (1) those attached to maternity hospitals where 

 the mothers are accouched in the hospital free of charge and their babies 

 kept under medical supervision for 2 years succeeding birth; and (2) 

 those not attached to maternity hospitals. The two sorts of institutions 

 are conducted in the same way. Every effort is made to encourage 

 breast feeding but where it is impossible for the mother to nurse her 

 baby, sterilized milk is supplied. Weekly, the mother must bring the 

 baby to the hospital where one of the medical staff examines, weighs it 

 and records its weight and other particulars. 



An offshoot from the Consultation de Nourrisson is the "goutte de 

 lait" which is in reality a milk dispensary from which babies are fed upon 

 sterilized milk without modification. Breast feeding is encouraged but 

 usually the great majority of infants are bottle-fed. The first goutte 

 de lait was established by Variot at Paris in 1892 in connection with the 

 Belleville dispensary. The name goutte de lait was first used by Leon 

 Dufour who gave it to the institution he established at Fecamp in 1894 

 which was the first separate institution of this sort and the first provincial 

 goutte de lait. These institutions sprang up all over France and in all 

 countries of the world where cow's milk is used. The first goutte de lait 

 in the United States was established by Hoplik at the Eastern Dispensary 

 now called the Good Samaritan in New York City in 1889. This was 

 followed by the milk stations of Nathan Straus in the same city in 1893. 

 Philanthrophists and charitable organizations of various sorts established 

 them first in the large cities and then in the smaller ones till now there 

 is nothing unusual about a milk station. Goler, the health officer in 

 Rochester, N. Y., started the first station to be operated by a board of 

 health. The innovation attracted much attention and resulted in it 



