RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. THE manuscript of the "Essay on Milk" was referred to the perusal of only two individuals, from whom the following letters were received: From CHARLES A. LEE, M. D., late Professor of Materia Medica and of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of New-York, To R. M. Hartley, Esq. DEAR SIR: New-York, November 16th, 1841. I have examined with much care the manuscript of your work on milk, and I feel it to be a duty, as it is a pleasure, to commend it to the public, as embodying a vast amount of practical information interesting to all classes of our community. I can hardly speak too highly of the manner in which you have discussed the various subjects passed under review; but if there is any part of the work more important than another, it is that relating to the influence of impure milk upon the health and lives of children. The facts you have set forth in regard to this matter, are of a startling character, and calculated to arrest the attention of every philanthropist. That your opinions are sound, and your conclusions legitimate and impregnable, I have no doubt whatever. They are such as the observation and experience of fifteen years practice of medicine in this city, have irresistibly forced upon my own mind. The dissemination of your views must, therefore, prove of great benefit to our citizens. Every farmer, dairyman and producer of milk, every distiller, and especially every head of a family in which milk is an article of diet, should make no delay in possessing your most valuable and interesting work. DEAR SIR: Truly yours, CHARLES A. LEE, M. D. From LUTHER JACKSON, Esq., New-York, New-York, November 22d, 1841. You are about presenting to the world in your "History of Milk," an invaluable original work. I have carefully perused 6 RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. the manuscript, and am unable in few words either to express my high estimate of the general importance of the essay, or my admiration of the manner in which the various topics introduced, are discussed. To the general reader, and to the man of science, it can scarcely fail to prove both interesting and instructive, whilst its startling disclosures in relation to the destruction of infant health and life, are calculated to strike a chord, to which every humane heart will instinctively respond. All your views and conclusions on the subject, are fully verified by my own observations. I regard them as indisputable, and so important, that every family in the community should be in possession of the work. I say the work, for the facts it contains can be found nowhere else. I consider it, in short, as an original development of an iniquitous system, affecting the health, life, and morals of multitudes in our own and other lands, which hitherto, under the most specious disguises, has been concealed from the public eye. To have discovered and pointed this out is so important, that it is not easy to commend extravagantly. No friend of temperance should be without the work, as it will give a new direction to his thoughts, and a new impulse to his labors. That your philanthropic efforts may be successful in removing the evils you have so faithfully depicted, is the earnest desire of your devoted friend, L. JACKSON. Owing to the necessity of placing the sheets immediately in the hands of the binder, they were submitted to the examination of but few individuals, from whom letters have been received, of which the following are specimens. From Professor JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D., Resident Physician of New-York. To R. M. Hartley, Esq. DEAR SIR: New-York, December 16th, 1841. I have given your treatise on milk a careful perusal. It is most apparent that the deleterious consequences resulting from the distillation of alcoholic liquors had not hitherto been fully explored. Not satisfied with the destruction of life directly inflicted by the intoxicating cup, there lurks behind the disease and death induced on the sober part of the community, who mix with their daily food that secretion which had been universally recognised, as the most bland and nutritive of all alimentary substances. But the most important portion of your work, is that in which you have traced the morbific effects of unwhole RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 7 some milk employed as infantile diet. The facts you have adduced, place your argument beyond the reach of successful contradiction, and deserves the serious attention, and solemn consideration of all. No physiological or pathological principle in the human economy is better grounded than that upon which you insist, namely, that the blood and secretions are modified by the nature of the material taken for the purposes of nutrition; hence an article so universal in its use as milk, when vitiated, must prove an abundant source of irremediable mischief, and to have pointed this out, entitles you to the applause of every well-wisher of his species. DEAR SIR: Most respectfully yours, JOHN W. FRANCIS. From JAMES C. Bliss, M.D. New-York, December 20th, 1841. I have been able only in a very cursory manner to look over your contemplated publication, entitled the "History of Milk." The plan of the work is judicious, and evinces no inconsiderable research; and the facts you have collected are well arranged, and calculated to arouse public attention to a subject of great interest to the well-being of society. As a member of the profession whose office it is to watch over the public health, I feel myself indebted to you for having directed the attention of physicians, as well as that of the community generally, to one of the most appalling evils connected with the destruction of human life. In common with my medical brethren, I have been aware for many years that milk, as it has been distributed in our city, was one of the most fruitful causes of disease in infants, and that its use as an aliment, was one of the greatest obstacles to the re'moval of maladies already existing. Until you were led to make the inquiries which you are now about to spread before the public, I was, however, ignorant of the fearful extent of the evil. The publication of this volume will, I doubt not, greatly subserve the cause of humanity, and will excite no inconsiderable interest in Europe as well as in this country, among those who wish to diminish the sum of human suffering. DEAR SIR: I am, with sentiments of respect, From N. H. DERING, M. D. New-York, December 27th, 1841. A hasty perusal of the sheets of your intended publication on "Milk," which you have done me the honor to submit to me 8 RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. for my opinion, has impressed my mind with a strong conviction of the value of your researches. Knowing, as every physician in this city does, the appalling effects of improper diet upon the health and lives of the children, of which impure and innutritious milk constitutes the greater part, I have often wondered that the corrective power of the law, or of public opinion, has not long since been applied. The reason can only be found in the fact, that the people have been ignorant of their danger. I trust that your interesting and valuable book, will arouse the community to a sense of the hidden dangers which surround them, and induce them speedily to correct an evil which annually destroys the lives of so great a number of the children attempted to be reared in this city. am, very respectfully, N. H. DERING. From DAVID M. REESE, A. M. M. D. of New-York, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the Castleton Medical College, Vermont. DEAR SIR: New-York, December 22d, 1841. I have availed myself of an early opportunity to examine the proof-sheets of your treatise on milk, which you did me the favor to leave for my perusal, and am pleased and gratified to learn, that to a just appreciation of the importance of the subject to human health and life, you have added a diligent and scientific inquiry into a topic hitherto comparatively unexplored. In the historical disquisition with which the volume opens, there is an amount of information for which we may seek elsewhere in vain, especially in reference to the comparative physiology concerned in the investigation. Your scientific and philosophical analysis of milk, taken from different lactiferous animals, and from cows both under wholesome and unwholesome regimen; as well as in the tables, illustrations, and criticisms by which the analysis is accompanied, you have given proof of a thorough acquaintance with the subject in all its bearings. In the remedial provisions which you have indicated in the work, for the preservation of our population in large cities from the physical and moral mischiefs consequent upon the supply of impure and poisonous milk, you have practically demonstrated the utilitarian character of your researches, and merited the title of a public benefactor. As one of the guardians of the public health, I owe you the expression of my grateful thanks, for the lucid and conclusive expose you have made of the iniquitous, demoralizing, and poisonous work of distillation, as carried on in New-York and RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. its vicinity, to so disgraceful an extent. Of the direct and palpable destruction of human life, especially among those children and feeble adults, who have been of necessity sustained by the milk obtained from cows fed on distillery slop, and housed in narrow, filthy, unventilated stables, I believe the half is not told, even in the forcible disclosures of this volume. Nor can Í doubt that much of our infantile mortality, is to be ascribed to the use of such milk. I trust that your work will serve to open the eyes of the public to this important, though neglected subject; and that you may receive, as you deserve, the patronage of our community, to an extent which may remunerate you for your laudable and benevolent labor. Respectfully your friend, D. M. REESE, M. D. From the Rev. Alonzo POTTER, D. D., Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, and the Rev. ELIPHALET NOTT, D. D., President of Union College, Schenectady, New-York. DEAR SIR: New-York, December 16th, 1841. The subject of your proposed work is one of great importance. An examination of the history and physical qualities of a substance, which has exerted so remarkable an influence on human welfare, would merit, by itself, much attention. But the indis pensable necessity of using the article in its pure form, and the great abuses which appear to prevail in the present methods of supplying it to large cities, invest the discussion, at this time, with peculiar interest. The startling disclosures contained in your work cannot fail to arrest attention; and I sincerely trust that your persevering and fearless exertions in this cause, may be crowned with success. Yours truly, ALONZO POTTER. New-York, December 18th, 1841. Having partially examined the above work, and being in some measure acquainted with the subject to which it refers, I hereby express my entire concurrence in the opinion above expressed by Professor Potter. ELIPHALET NOTT. From the Rev. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D., Pastor of the Collegiate Church, New-York. SIR: New-York, December 23d, 1841. I have looked over the sheets of your volume "On Milk," soon to be published, which you kindly placed in my hand. Two |