238 THE MILK QUESTION 



Many of the diarrhoeal diseases of babies are infectious 

 in nature; that is, they are communicated from person to 

 person just as typhoid fever, cholera, and other intestinal 

 infections are transmitted. Many of the acute cases of 

 summer complaint are really dysentery, and acute infec- 

 tious diseases caused by the Bacillus dysenteriw. This form 

 of dysentery occurs in epidemics, and also is endemic in our 

 cUmate and may be entirely independent of the milk sup- 

 ply. In Japan, for example, where milk is not commonly 

 used as an article of diet, devastating epidemics of bacil- 

 lary dysentery have occurred. 



It is out of the question to anticipate such good results 

 from artificial feeding as from breast feeding. All are agreed 

 that if the child must be artificially fed, fresh, clean, and 

 pure milk should be used. If infants must depend upon the 

 stale, dirty, and uncared-for milk that forms the bulk of 

 the supply in large cities, it would be much better, espe- 

 cially in the summer months, to practice pasteurization. 



Infants' milk depots in the United States 



A committee consisting of Dr. Kerr, Dr. Coit, and Dr. 

 Freeman, representing the American Association of Medi- 

 cal Milk Commissions, collected the following data con- 

 cerning infants' milk depots in the United States in the 

 year 1910. The following chart shows the name of the 

 institution, its object, how it is operated, and how main- 

 tained: — 



