MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. 205 by whatever cause produced, can never sustain the body in health and vigor; but on the contrary, will induce much physical suffering, and, in proportion to its use, make direful inroads on human life. But whilst the principle in the abstract may appear too obvious to be disputed, its bearings upon health in the subject before us, having never been an object of inquiry, are, of course, not understood; and yet the happiness, health, and lives of multitudes, depend upon its correct, practical appreciation. Next to water, which is nature's own beverage and the proper diluent for man, milk, even in our artificial modes of living, is an article of indispensable necessity, and universal use. Every man and every woman, therefore, but especially every child in the community, has an important stake in this matter, which it becomes parents and those on whom the responsibilities of life rest, seriously to consider. Milk is the natural food of the infant. It is the first, and during the feebleness of early life, the only aliment. All are born with an appetency for this natural fluid, which neither cooking nor chemistry can imitate; and the relish for its use is seldom lost, except as the taste becomes vitiated by luxurious and unnatural indulgences. Holding a medium place between animal and vegetable diet, when pure it is at once the most palatable, healthy, and nutritive aliment with which our nurseries and tables can be supplied. It is not surprising, therefore, that immense quantities are used, or that so much importance should be attached to it as an article of diet for children. We possess no certain data by which to estimate the proportion of the infants in our populous cities that are reared by hand; but the average, for obvious reasons, is 206 MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. far greater than in rural districts. Many mothers in our large towns, from constitutional feebleness, and others from infirm health, are incapable of nursing their offspring; but far more from unnatural and justly reprehensible habits of life, completely disqualify themselves for discharging this important and endearing duty. Hence, in the judgment of several distinguished medical practitioners, whose ample opportunities for observation entitle their opinions to respect, more than three-fourths of the infants born in our cities, are sustained in whole or in part on artificial diet. In some instances semi-fluid farinaceous substances, etc., are prepared as substitutes for the natural food of the infant; but as a general rule, cow's milk, being cheaper and most readily procured, is regarded as the grand succedaneum. This, certainly, is a correct conclusion, provided the milk is pure; for such milk is more analogous to the infant's natural food, and is better adapted to its digestive organs and sustenance than is any artificial preparation. But, unfortunately, it is not pure milk, but the diseased and innutritious slush we have described, which is substituted for the nourishment of the maternal breast, at a period, too, when the powers of life are most feeble, and when the demands for healthy and appropriate aliment to supply both the consumption and growth of the system, are most imperative. Sickness, and an extensive waste of life might be expected as the inevitable consequences of so flagrant an outrage of the laws of organic existence; and such we believe is the result, as is indicated by the excessive infant mortality in our cities. Yet among the many excellent treatises published on the hygienic treatment of children, not one has referred to the pernicious influence of bad milk, although, as it respects them, this holds the most important place of all aliments. Such, indeed, is the ab MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. 207 solute want of information on the subject by the great mass of the people, that its noxious properties are not even suspected, although there is strong probability that it is annually destroying thousands. With the earnest desire, therefore, of inciting physicians to observe and record facts as a basis of future deductions on the subject, and of arousing those interested to its immediate consideration, we next propose to show, more fully than we have yet attempted, that the evils attributed to this pernicious article of food, appear to be sustained by experience, facts, and probable argu ments. CHAPTER XXIV. INFANT MORTALITY IN FOREIGN CITIES. Infant physiology.-Analogies of nature.-Physical and moral debasement in Paris.-Also in London.-In Liverpool.-Birming. ham.-Glasgow, etc.-Consequences therefrom.-Infant mortality in England.-Foundling hospitals.-In Paris.-London.-Amsterdam.-Glasgow.-Improvement in the duration of adult life. -Also of infant life.-Table of infant mortality in London.General diminution of infant mortality.-Deductions. A POPULAR writer on infant physiology remarks, "that the successful rearing of every living being depends chiefly on the proper adaptation of its treatment to the laws of its constitution. When these are in harmony, the failures will be few and unimportant, and arise chiefly from those unavoidable accidents and exposures, to which all created beings are, and will continue to be, more or less subjected. But where the treatment and laws are not in harmony, failure, disease, and untimely death, may be expected as the most frequent and certain results."* That these principles are correct, is shown by the analogies of nature. In the young of the lower orders of animals which in physical structure most nearly resemble man, though guided merely by brute instinct, the cases of mortality amongst them are few, compared with what occur in the human family. Whence this difference, if not attributable to different modes of treatment? In the former case the unerring dictates of nature are implicitly obeyed, which secures the safety and welfare of the animal ; * Combe on Infancy, p. 21. PHYSICAL AND MORAL DEBASEMENT. 209 whilst in the latter case, boasted human reason either disdains to consult, or misinterprets and perverts, the laws of its own being; and suffering, disease, and excessive mortality are the necessary consequences. "If it were only," says Dr. Combe, "in wild and barbarous regions that this extraordinary mortality occurred, it might seem quite in accordance with the hardships with which even infancy is there surrounded; but the startling circumstance is, that it happens in the midst of comfort and civilization, precisely where the knowledge and means of protection are supposed most to abound." We cannot glance at the destitution, vice, and suffering, which, as described by their own writers, extensively prevail in European cities, without the conviction that the conjunction of numerous unfavorable circumstances must make fearful havoc, especially of infant life, and thus greatly augment the bills of mortality. "In France," a late writer remarks, "out of a population of thirty-two millions, twenty-two millions have but six cents a-day to defray all expenses-food, clothing, and education."* It is easy to conceive that a population in such poverty must be extremely ignorant and degraded, and life be one ceaseless conflict with physical want. And what is true of the destitution and suffering in rural districts, is also true, under circumstances of peculiar aggravation, in populous towns. In 1833, according to the published tables, the pauper population of Paris, described as indigent poor, amounted to 77,200; but the Office of Charity relieved 90,000. In the hospitals there were 13,700 sick and infirm persons; it is also stated that there were 19,886 foundlings. Dalure says that 7,850 children in one year were abandoned by their parents; and in 1827 they amounted to 8,084.† † Annuaire pour l'An. 1829. Paris.. * A. Brisbane. |