OUR BABIES.

By Htgeia. It is wiser to put up a fence af the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.

SAVING LONDON'S BABIES. \ Last July, under the auspices of the St. Pancras Mothers' and Infants' Society, a conference was held in the Town Hall. A school was then inaugurated for the training- of mothers (actual and prospective) and b-abv liiiree* a 3 well. Everything pertaining to the welfare of mother and offspring will bo taught in a simple, practical way — object lesions being given with tho actual babies, and necessary appliance*, clothing, food, etc. The following is an extract from the report of the meeting: — A SCHOOL FOR XURSIXG A novel experiment 111 England will be the school to which mothers and girls may come and learn how a baby should be clothed, fed, washed, and tended, and tieated 111 small ailments-. The proposal is to have a trained lady on duty At certain times to give object lessons on the actual babies. Some of the features of the school will be: — Weighing machines foi periodically weighing mothers and babies, the twopenny banana box adapted for a cradle : a doll dressed in a model set of cloth«s; demonstrations by ladies, showing how to cut out baby clothes ar.cl put them together ; pictorial illustrations and demonstrations of domestic information; cards of instructions to mothers, lantern lectures on baby culture; and social gatherings to talk over experiences with Jadies; chprts. illustrations, and demonstiations of foeds and food values, and the economical purchase and preparation of nourishing foods. Mothers willingly learn domestic things, and when the school has succeeded in training them so far. cooking, hygiene, sicknursing, and needlework classes will bs organised. It is especially hoped that newly married girls, in the idle* period that so often follows marriage, will drive away the dulness by coming to the school, instead of going back to the factory merely to get rid of the ennui, as so many do now. Unmarried girls, in time of slackness of work, will also be encouraged to drop in whenever there is something going on. Lord Robert Cecil presided at the meeting, and the following important resolutions were passed : — That it is desirable that eveiy encouragement should be given to prospective mothers to seek advice as to the management of their health so that they may endow their offspring with good constitutions and piepare themselves to suckle their infants when born, and! That it is desirable that all efforts should be exhausted uporr* improving the health of suckling mothers before devoting attention solely to their infants. Motion by Mrs Scharheb, M.D., M S., that this society recognises that the poorer th« parents the more necessary it Is that the infant should be provided in the earliest days of life with physical health, the first insurance against future sickness and pauperism. Motion by "Mrs Humphry Ward, that the infant being most* dependent upon the mother for the endowment and cultivation of phy Q ical health, the improvement of the heplth of the mother and of her education in maternal duties should bo the> first consideration. Motion by the Lady Henry Somerset, that it is desirable that means of education in the hygiene of maternity and infancy should be readily accessible to all mothers, especially those of the poorer classes. Motion by the Hon. Mrs Bertrand Russejl, that it is desirable that the information should be spread broadcast that breastfeeding ip the most economical, easy, and mode of feeding infants under nine months of age. with a view to reducing the number of hand-fed sucklings to the smallest proportion possible, and' that every effort sliould be made to assist and encourage mothers to adopt and follow this course, and that it is desirable that mothers sliould be warned that the handfeeding of infants is expensive, troublesome, and unsatisfactory, risky at all times, and in summer dangerous and often fatal. A STRIKING LESSON". By devoting attention to instructing and ad\i\mg mothers St. Fancra-, m the (our** 1 of three year 5 , has t-ucceedeil in greatly impio\in<r"ihe health of infants throughout the boiough, and ha* markedly 1 educed tho death rate. "When the effoit was commenced the St. Pancra-, infantile inortaSHy rate wa> higher than the average for London. Next jcur it fell from 24 per thousand abo\e the a\orage, to only four per thousand above, and last year it was 15 per thousand below the London a\oiage. Thiee years ago tho St. Pancras infantile mortality rate was 42 per thou-antl abo\e the average for the- whole of England and Wales; now it is four below tho rate for the whole country. There can be no more striking evidence as to what can bo effected by well-considered efforts directed towards enlightened education in the art of living and maintaining health. The meeting which took place, in July for the founding of a distinct schooj was an expression of public approval and appreciation of what had already been effected. The official report fiays:— "The measures pursued in St. Paneras have been the di-couragement of the artificial feeding of infants of suckling age and the encouragement of natural or brea=f feeding by prompt advice and the personal influence of women inspectors and women voluntary -visitors. The effoit^ tentatively commenced m 1904 were pui*ue<l •uirh pi eater confirk nee and thoiouehnr '- duiirjr 1205, and lia^t; been extended and (.l&bo-

rated during 1906. It .vas recognised from the beginning by the borough council that woman'^sympathy and influence were essential xo success. Ycmr inspector, Miss Bibby, B.A. (Lond.), assisted in commencing tho inquiry, and Miss Gardiner, B.A. (Lond.}, assisted in elaborating the inquiry and tho remedial work, and the numerous ladies (•some 201 kindly acting as -voluntary visitors have assisted in extending the work. The members of the medical, midwifery, and nursing professions have fully approved and furthered the principle* of the scheme adopted by the borough council. The interestiug point to bear in mind is that the lowering of tho infantile mortality has been accomplished without the municipal distribution of milk, the borough council not having established a milk depot, and no such depot existing in the borough, and the fall in the mortality rates must be mainly attributed to the diminished use of cow's milk for infants and the increa6e of breast feeding.