INFANT MORTALITY 235 



in those artificially fed. Tyson states that of 150,000 

 deaths in Great Britain, seventy-five per cent were in those 

 raised on the bottle. Kober collected 54,047 infant deaths 

 at home and abroad, eighty-six per cent of which were arti- 

 ficially fed. In Munich the mortality of bottle-fed infants 

 is eighty-five per cent and that of breast-fed fifteen per 

 cent. The State Board of Health of Massachusetts has con- 

 firmed the figures that ten babies who are artificially fed 

 die to every one which has received its natural food from 

 its mother. Further, that twenty-eight per cent of these 

 deaths are from acute gastro-intestinal diseases most pre- 

 valent in the summer-time. 



An infant raised on cow's milk then has from four to ten 

 chances to die to one of those fed on mother's milk. This is 

 partly due to the composition of the cow's milk, but mostly 

 to the bacteria and the bacterial products. It is not the cow, 

 nor the board of health, nor the milk inspector, nor the 

 dairyman who is most concerned, or who has the greatest 

 power in preventing the great infant mortahty; but the 

 mother. 



One of the most striking evidences of the dangers of arti- 

 ficial feeding and the advantages of breast feeding are 

 shown in Budin's chart, which gives the relative mortality 

 from gastro-intestinal diseases in breast-fed and bottle-fed 

 infants, under one year of age in Paris, by weeks through- 

 out the year. This chart shows both the seasonal preval- 

 ence of the summer complaints, and the great dispropor- 

 tion between the mortality in the breast-fed and the bottle- 

 fed babies. 



Breast feeding requires very little experience, and may 

 be done successfully by those who are of a very low grade 

 of intelligence and among the poor. In other words, breast 

 milk is the cheapest, cleanest, freshest, and best food for 

 babies. On the other hand, artificial feeding is not successful 

 unless carried out with intelUgence and experience and, at 

 the same time, with a certain amount of money to secure 



