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sisting of various sorts of grain, groats, and bread. The guinea pigs 
did not get the disease when fed upon a one-sided diet consisting of 
fresh cabbage or fresh potatoes, whereas it was produced by dry 
potatoes; that is, the disease originates in guinea pigs as well as in 
man as a result of a diet confined to some special nutriments. 
Holst and Frolich also observed that the disease in guinea pigs is 
favorably influenced by different sorts of nutriments known from 
human experience as “ antiscorbutics.” They found, however, that 
at least one of their nutriments, viz, cabbage, loses a deal but not all 
its preventive power when boiled for half an hour at 110° C. There 
is no evidence to show that moderate heating, such as is used in the 
pasteurization of milk, in any way affects the scorbutic or antiscor- 
butic qualities of a food. 
Infant mortality . — It is now well established that the large major- 
ity of infantile deaths is caused by gastro-intestinal diseases. Fur- 
ther, that this great fatality occurs especially among artificially raised 
infants, and finally that the vast majority of cases and deaths from 
bowel troubles in children occur during the heated term. The infant 
mortality in all countries is shockingly high. This is shown to be un- 
necessary by the fact that infants who are well cared for show a rela- 
tively low mortality. Defective feeding is the active cause of this high 
mortality, while heat, humidity, and bad surroundings are contribu- 
tary causes. It must be remembered that the normal intestinal 
mucous membranes are permeable to bacteria, and more so during the 
period of infantile than of later life. Hence one of the great dangers 
of using bacteria-laden milk. While the factors involved in this 
“ slaughter of the innocents ” are numerous, primarily or secondarily 
they depend upon the activity of micro-organisms. Freeman ° believes 
that the decline in the infant mortality in the United ^States during 
the last ten years, and especially in New York City, is due for the 
most part to the decline in mortality from summer diarrhea, and 
states “ that the general adoption of pasteurized and sterilized milk 
for infant feeding is by far the most important agency.” A definite 
example of the diminution in mortality from pasteurizing . the milk 
occurred in the infants’ hospital at Randall’s Island, where the mor- 
tality in 1897, with raw milk, was 44.36 per cent, while in 1898, with 
pasteurization of the milk, it was 19.80 per cent. 
Numerous similar instances of the beneficial effect upon infant 
mortality and morbidity are found in the literature. 
A reduction in the infant mortality may be accomplished without 
the heating of the milk. This has been shown bv Doctor Goler, who 
conducted an aggressive campaign to improve the milk supply for 
Freeman, Roland G. : Medical News, September 5, 1905. 
