MILK AND EPIDEMIC DIARRHCEA 



371 



infants under six months from diarrhoea, fourteen per cent, were 

 fed on human milk, thirty-three per cent, were fed on condensed 

 milk, and forty-eight per cent on cow's milk. Between the ages of 

 six and twelve months, eleven per cent were fed on human milk, 

 twenty-nine per cent on condensed milk, and fifty-four per cent 

 on cows' milk.^ These percentages may be tabulated thus : — - 



From these facts there is one evident deduction, namely, that 

 most of the deaths of infants from diarrhoea occur in children who 

 have been Jiand-fed (according to Still, 90 per cent.). Further, 

 there is no substantial evidence that condensed milk,^ which may 

 be presumed to be, though not germ-free, at least free from the 

 chances of the active pollution of cows' milk, contains infective 

 matter before it is opened. Therefore, any infectivity it possesses 

 is obtained by contamination in the home. In the homes of 



1 Jour, of Hyg., 1903, p. 329. 



2 See also work of Ashby and Wright, H. R. Jones, Still, Niven, Hope, etc. 



3 It is impossible to enter into the question of condensed milk and its effect 

 upon the consumer, as that is now almost a subject by itself. It may, however, 

 be stated that the trade in condensed milk has enormously increased in recent 

 years, and there can be little doubt that the consumption of this substitute for 

 milk is having ver>' injurious effects upon infants. But this is due to its sugar 

 and deficiency in fat, and not to infective properties. Hutchison says : — 



"There can be no doubt that an immense amount of harm is done to infants 

 by the indiscriminate use of such milks. Babies fed on them may look fat 

 enough, but they are pale and flabby, and often suffer from rickets ; for fatness 

 produced by abundance of sugar in the milk is by no means a sure indication 

 of health, and the pictures of such fat but flabby infants so freely spread abroad 

 by the makers of condensed milks are very deceptive." (Robert Hutchison, 

 M.D., F.R.C.P., Food and Dietetics^ 1902, p. 444.) 



An examination of twenty-two condensed milks in Liverpool showed 

 excessive quantities of sugar (Hope), and the same condition was still more 

 marked in Finsbury (Colwell). Dr Hope of Liverpool, speaking of a bacterio- 

 logical examination of fifty condensed milks, says, that "the great majority were 

 not sterile." He adds : — 



" There can be no doubt that condensed milk is a most unsatisfactory pro- 

 duct. Bacteria are usually present, their products are masked by the large 

 quantity of sugar present, but their irritant properties are not destroyed." — 

 Reports on Health of Liverpool, 1901 and 1902. 



A large number of medical oflScers of health have borne similar testimony. 



