584 BOARD OF AGRICULTUHE. [Pub. Doc. 



ptomaine poisoning, caused by the absorption of the 

 products of fermentation, and due, as a rule, to improper 

 feeding, and the presence of impurities and immense num- 

 bers of bacteria in the milk. The symptoms of milk 

 diarrhoea are acute, and are not those of tuberculosis of the 

 intestines. 



Milk diarrhoea is probably the most common disease to 

 which children are subject. In this connection we would 

 call your attention to the mortality report of the Massachu- 

 setts Board of Health for 1895. 



In this report it is shown that there were 5,463 deaths from 

 phthisis at all ages, 2,676 deaths from cholera infantum, 1,801 

 deaths from diphtheria and croup, 748 deaths from typhoid fever, 

 649 deaths from scarlet-fever, aud 98 deaths from measles. 



In this report we see cholera infantum placed next to phthisis in 

 the death rate. Now, in considering this subject, it must be re- 

 membered that the latest statistics show that by far the largest 

 proportion of cases of phthisis occur in people who have recently 

 moved into houses previously occupied by consumptives ; while, 

 on the other hand, cholera infantum is due almost solely to the 

 ingestion of impure milk. Further, the deaths from phthisis in- 

 clude deaths at all ages, while cholera infantum occurs only in 

 children under five years and practically under one year old. 



In New Hampshire the proportion of deaths from cholera infan- 

 tum is greater; for the year ending 1891 the report shows 695 

 deaths from consumption and 486 deaths from cholera infantum. 

 The report then remarks: "Cholera infantum was the cause of 

 more than one-third of all the deaths from prominent zymotic 

 diseases in New Hampshire in 1891." 



In Ontario, for the year ending 1892, in a population of over 

 2,000,000, phthisis caused 2,592 deaths and cholera infantum 670 ; 

 but among the 23,190 children under one year old cholera infan- 

 tum caused 600 deaths, while phthisis caused 283 deaths. 



These figures are pregnant with meaning. Cholera infantum, 

 or milk diarrhoea, is purely a disease of infants, due as a rule to 

 improper feeding with impure milk. In Massachusetts it was the 

 cause of 2,676 out of 11,435 deaths from the six most prominent 

 diseases ; the cause of one-fourth of all deaths from all zymotic 

 diseases in New Hampshire in 1891. 



Milk diarrhoea is distinctly a preventable disease, and is 

 due to uncleanliness and filthy surroundings and to want of 



