SPECIAL PURE MILK METHODS 359 



dried milk was started, and at the end of 1909 about four- 

 fifths of all the babies at the depot were being fed on it 

 exclusively. In 1911 the use of humanised milk was finally 

 abandoned. Millard finds that dried milk has the great ad- 

 vantage of being more digestible, and many infants who are 

 unable to keep down fresh milk easily retain dried milk. 

 Owing to its convenience it is very popular with the mothers, 

 and the average number of infants treated has steadily risen 

 from 102 in 1907, 195 in 1908, 216 in 1909, to 274 in 

 1910. 



The practice at the depot is to regulate the richness of 

 the milk as follows : For infants under two months old, half 

 cream milk ; for infants between two and six months, three- 

 quarters cream ; for infants over six months old, full cream. 

 In each case the milk is slightly sweetened by the addition 

 to the dried milk of 10 per cent of castor sugar. These 

 mixtures are retailed at 8d., lOd., and Is. per lb., and at 

 this price it costs about the same to feed an infant as if fresh 

 cows' milk were purchased from a dairy. The dried milk is 

 said to keep good for months and does not turn sour. By 

 the use of dried milk the depot can be run at much less expense, 

 the bottles and their cleaning being a very heavy item in the 

 ordinary depot. For the financial year ending March 1910 

 the receipts were £868, the expenses £979, and the deficiency 

 £111, of which £25 was a contribution towards the salary of 

 the health visitor. For 1910 the excess of expenditure over 

 receipts was only £43. 



Milk depots should have a much wider function than 

 merely to distribute pure milk. If used at all they should 

 be one part, but strictly a part only, of the system of muni- 

 cipal surveillance of infant feeding and treatment which is 

 one of the latest and most valuable developments of public 

 work. 



Sir G. Newman ^ has laid down four dicta as to the func- 

 tions and proper management of a milk depot with which 

 most persons who have studied the matter will agree. They 

 are : 



1. The supply of milk from these depots should be 

 restricted absolutely to children who cannot be breast fed. 



^ Proceedings Infantile Mortality Confere'iioe, 1906, p. 90. 



