OUR BABIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 12, 15 January 1910, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) Published under the auspices ot Hie BociPty for the Promotion ot the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence J«t tho top of a precipice than to Quintain an ambulance at the bottom." NUTRITION AND GROWTH. The following extract from an important treatise on children published this year by Dr. Kerley, a noted physician, and professor of diseases of children in New York, should be of great interest to our readers : Tho "fundamental principles in the life of the young of all animals aro growth and development. This statement applies to the young of the lower animals as well as to man. Nature has fixed and definite laws in accordance with which thi3 growth and development proceed. The typo of animal produced depends in no small degree upon the way ■we follow out Natures laws. Heredity is, of course, an important but environment counts for moro. [Memo by "Hygoia" : —Environment, ised in this sense, does not mean merely «he "surroundings" of the child, but injludes every material and immaterial influence which is brought to b..ar on him from the time 'of his birth, as contrasted .vith the hereditary or inborn tendencies with which he enters the world. Thus the food is an environment, regularity or habits as to feeding, action on bowels, sleeping, playing, or taking exercise are all, broadly speaking, conditions of environment, just as much as are climate, fresh air, sunlight, housing, etc.] The young of the lower animals or of man may possess all that can bo desired in tho way of heredity, but if tho early management of his life is faulty, an adult is produced which is almost certain to fall short of the normal. On tho other hand k another, without the benefits of a good heredity, when given the advantages of faithful scientific care, may produce an adult decidedly superior in all respects to those moro fortunate in birth. I hayo seen this demonstrated time and again both in the lower animals and in man. Prom my earliest recollection I ha\e carefully watched the growth and devolopment of animals. By observing care as to feeding, housing, ventilation, cleanliness, and exorcise, I have seen animals which promised but little at birth develop into perfect mature specimens of their kind. During the past twenty years I have been intimately associated with thousands of infants and growing children in private, in hospital, and in out-patient •work. Tbe possibilities of proper growth under good management when little was to be expected, judging from the original condition of the patient, have been impressed upon me repeatedly. [Memo, by "Hygeia."— Dr. Kerley might well say, as an eminent physician eaid some time ago to a sympathetic and appreciative audience at a meeting of the British Association: "Environment can knock horedity into a cocked hat." It is essential for every mother to realiso not only how muoh good can be dono by a favourable environment, but what infinite and irreparable harm can be done by a bad environment. The dummy, the long tube feeder, Unsuitable food, impure air, lack of exercise, irregular habits, etc., can all or any of them pervert and bring to naught the finest heredity for the individual in one generation; what has been built up (through the centuries — can, in fact, knock the best-born baby in the world into a 'cocked hat.' "] THE CHILD A FUTURE CITIZEN. The child is here through no choice of his own. Ho is to have a future. His health, vigour, poAyers of residence, happiness, and usefulness as a citizen are determined in no small degree by tho nature of his care during tho first fifteen years of his life. % Ho has a right to demand that such care be given him as will bo conducive at least to a sound, well-developed ,Jwdy, and this should bo our first thought ' an cT* object "Tggarding him. Consider for a moment the number of occupations, other than the army and the navy, which require physical fit-

ness before a candidate is accepted. Competition is keen at the present time, and will be keenor in the future. Employers of men and women, whether in tho office, the factory, or on tho farm, cannot afford to employ th'o physically weak. NUTRITION STANDS FIRST. Tho most important factor in tho making of men and women is nutrition. It requires no great power of reasoning to appreciate tho fact that the child who 13 fed on suitable food will become a moro vigorous, better-devolopod adult than ono \\ho, beginning with his birth and continuing throughout tho entiro period of his grow th, is given only _ food possessing- indifferent tissue-building qualities. Next in impoj-tanco to food, and following in closo succession, are fresh air, cleanliness, cheerful surroundings, ai.-l healthful amusements, together with an absence of work of an arduous nature, whether in school or at service. That tho offspring of man suffers moro from nutritional errors duo to tho lack of suitable oaro than do tho young of tho lowei animals is lamentable, but it is a fact, nevertheless. The absence of thought and care and of knowledge relating to children is due to tho fact that tho ohild as such has apparently no intrinsic value in cash, whoreas tho young of the lower animals aro no small part of their owner's material possessions. EVERY DAY A DAY OF GROWTH. Success in the management of children, nutritionally and otherwise, means daily attention to detail Feeding the child properly one or two months out of the year ia of little value. He should bo fed properly every day in the year, for under normal conditions every day is a day of growth. Another factor having a deterrent influence upon the development of children is their unfavourable start during the first year. Unfortunately many mothers cannot supply to the infant the nourishment to which he is entitled, and this brings us to the matter of substitute feeding, fraught with its perplexities and uncertainties in the most competent hands, and with its dangers and disasters with tho incompetent and inefficient. It is sufficient to remark here that Nature has provided for the "baby a food which contains the nutritional elements, fat, sugar, and proteid, in fairly definite proportions an"d in peculiar forms. SUBSTITUTE FEEDING. Success in substitute feeding depends vpon our abilitj- to supply in suitable forms, and the child's ability to assimilate, a food containing approximately the quantities of the nutritivo elements foiind in human milk. An exact reproduction of mothers' milk by the use of cows' milk or other food is, of course, impossible. We can imitate it, however, with sufficient accuracy to mako it an acceptable and sufficient food for most children who are deprived of the breast. [Memo bj" "Hygeia." — From one end of New Zealand to tha othei' mothers who cannot feed their babies naturally are imitating Xature as closely as possible by using humanised milk — in other words,' they are doing just what Dr. Kcrley advises when he says that we should supply "a food containing approximately the qualities of the nutritive elements found in human milk." Unmodified or merely diluted cows' milk is out of the question. Cows' milk and cane sugar are highly objectionable, while condensed milk and patent foods cannot be too strongly condemned.]

Prince Ito's funeral at Tokio surpassed anything of the kind that had gone before. Not only did some five thousand troops take part, but all the great generals and admirals of Japan and all her leading officials marched behind the bier. The procession measured three miles in length, and its passing of any given point occupied fifty minutes. Not so much as one vehicle of any kind was allowed to take part. It is. announced that the cemetery is to become a State shrine, which means that Prince Ito is to be apotheosised. Visitor : "What have you in arotio literature f " Librarian : "Cook books and Pearyodicals."