104 



REPORT OF THE 



No. 55 



Syracuse and the rate is* somewhat alarmingly high. During the year 1908 there 

 were 542 deaths under five years of age. Taking into consideration the fact that 

 the population of Syracuse is 124,000, this number does not compare well with 

 Rochester, where there were only 551 deaths in 1908 to a population of 200,000. 

 In other words, the number in Rochester under five made up only 27 per cent, 

 of all deaths, whereas the number in Rochester under five made up only 19.7 per 

 cent, of the total. With a view to ascertaining the cause of an infantile mortal- 

 ity rate which the Medical Health Officer describes as "appalling," a rigid over- 

 sight is being kept on all infant deaths. A record is kept of all deaths under one 

 year under the following heads : Name and address of child ; milk or condensed 

 milk used; name of milkman or brand of condensed milk; whether breast fed or 



Interior Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory. A similar system has been installed in the 

 Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. At the left milk in nursing bottles being placed in the 

 pasteurizing ovens ; at the right milk in cans being put in oven to be pasteurized for serving 

 by the gJass at the summer stations in the parks. 



given a prepared food; if artificially fed, name of food. This information is es- 

 pecially useful in following up any outbreak of contagious diseases. But in ad- 

 dition to this the department has prepared a little leaflet containing simple yet 

 helpful advice to mothers on the care of the baby, especially with reference to his 

 milk. Two thousand of these were distributed in 1908 indicating that they were 

 being appreciated. 



NATHAN STRAUS' NOBLE WORK IN NEW YORK. 



Eighteen years ago Nathan Straus, a wealthy New York merchant, was living 

 in the Adirondacks. He kept a cow to supply milk for family use. Although it 

 was an apparently healthy cow, it was found dead one morning- and further ex- 

 amination revealed the fact that tuberculosis was the cause. It was a startling 



