OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3197, 23 June 1915, Page 70

OUR BABIES.

Br Htgeia.

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health ol Women and Children. " It is wiser to put up a feuco at thß top oi a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

ROYAL RECOGNITION FOR THE PLUiMvET SOCIETY. At tho last monthly meeting of the Central Council ot the Society, nold in Dunedm, the President announced that word Had boon received through the Governor that ins Majesty the King had _ conferred on the Society the honour of being styiea “ The Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health ot Women and Children.' Tins mark of confidence and encouragement would have been welcome at any tint., but its arrival at this period of national stress and peril makes Royal recognition of the Society’s work all the more gratifying.

SMALL BEGINNINGS. Exactly 10 years ago— two years before the founding of the Society—Dr iruby King was asked by the President ot tho New Zealand Farmers’ Union J. u. Wilson) to give an address at their .annual general mooting in Wellington, with a view to evoking practical interest in the esta - lishrnent of rural education througnout tin Dominion. ~ A Lord Plunkct, as Governor, presided. The subject chosen w-as 1( “The Feeding of Plants and Animals. The address was mainly taken up with a cons.doration of the essential scientific and practical problems involved m the successful rearing of plants and animals, and the need for soundly grounding our rural population in those matters. The concluding section, dealing wdth the highest aspect oi the problem, alone concerns us here. FEEDING OF CHILDREN. Dr King said : If it is necessary to be guided by the laws of Nature, and to be systematic and accurate m the feeding of p ants and the lowdr animals, such care is surely doubly incumbent on us in the rearing of human beings. „ T Yet what do wo find in practice? in spite of the fact that suckling is the only perfect method of feeding any young animal, it has become tho exception, and not the rule, for human mothers so to nourish their own offspring. No farmer contends for a moment that he employs artificial foeding_ in the case of calves because ho thinks it as good as "natural rearing. He knows that the call which runs at its mothers heels has more spirit and vitality and greater resistiveness to disease than any hand-reared calf. However, there is more involved for both parent and offspring than mere identity in chemical composition of food. Nutrition given by the mother in the natural way is always best, and the wisest breeders will continue to lot Nature have her way where they wish to keep their purebred stock at the highest pitch ot health for tho perpetuation and improvement of the best strains. ' When the fanner resorts to hand-rear-ing ho does it simply because there is profit in removing butter-fat valued at Is a lb and replacing it with vegetable starches and fats which cost him about a penny. But this is net tho attitude or feeling of the mother who rears her child bymoans of a bottle. For the most part she is densely ignorant of tho duties of maternity, and does not realise the injustice she is doing to herself and her offspring. She has no knowledge of or respect for the laws of Nature, ano imagines that advertising charlatans have superseded Providence in the feeding of babies. Even cows’ milk, which can be modified so as to serve 'reasonably well for the rearing of infants, becomes of secondary importance in her eyes to cheap vccetable substances, sold at high prices. Then followed a comparative table contrasting the composition of Human Milk with that of a typical and much-used Patent Baby Food. Next a short summary and explanation was given, showing how easily Cows’ Milk could be modified (Humanised) so as to resemble Human Milk. The address then proceeded: If mothers resent the trouble of using a thermometer, and deliberately and knowingly choose that their offspring shall draw in with their milk active living organisms to fight against them and weaken or kill them, the matter is one for tho maternal conscience; no law intervenes to prevent the maiming or killing of children. The use of patent foods is even more fatal than tho ordinary misuse of cows' milk. The table gives a clue to this.

I trust that the summary statement I have given of some of the more essential relationships between the requirements of plants and' animals may serve to direct attention to the unity and simplicity of tho laws of organic Nature and the need for rational education. In appealing to farmers we are appealing to that largo section of our population to which we must look mainly for tho development of our material resources, and tho evolving of a strong, healthy, capable race. Civilisation is tending everywhere to undermine humanity, and wo have no reason to be proud of the fact that, apart from dairy calves (which we treat rather worse than our own offspring), there is no young’creature in the world so ignorantly and orudly nurtured as tho_ average infant. There is no death-rate in Nature aris’ng from maternal neglect and improper feeding that can be compared with human infant mortality. In this colony alone a generally diffused knowledge and recognition of infant requirements and maternal duties would save the community at least one life per diem, and would correspondingly increase the strength and vitality of the I’cst of the rising generation. Statistics reveal the appalling fact that with artificial rearing infant mortality may bo as high as from five to thirty times tho death-rate of children nourished by their mothers. Yet careless bottlefeeding is still resorted to by the majority of women. In the face of such facts one could wish seriously that, as Zan.gwill suggests, infants should bo allowed tbe privilege of selecting thoir parents; then, as ho says, “ When children begin to be fastidious

about the families they are born into, parents will have to improve or die child less. ... In their anxiety to be worthy of select'on by posterity, parents will rise to heights of health and holiness of which our sick generation does not dream. If they do not, woe to them! They will bo remorselessly left to die without issue.” FOUNDING OF THE SOCIETY.

Two and a-ha!f years later —sonic six months after the founding of the Society in Dunedin (May, 1907) Lord and Lady Plunket identified themselves with the work; and they ‘showed entire confidence in its great future when the attitude was rather one of doubt, scepticism, and more or less ridicule. They willingly became the patrons of the Society; but they generously said, even at the start, that in their opinion the problem was so important for the Nation that they would prefer to see it under Royal Patronage. They had no doubt that the work would command the hearty sympathy of their Majesties. A single difficulty, but that an insurmountable one, stood in the way: Royal Patronage should never bo expected for any work or organisation which has not proved itself. Not only is it necessary to establish clearly that a scheme is beneficent, successful, and well carried out, but the assurance of permanency is also essential. The association of Royalty with failure is unthinkable.

While Royal recognition is gratifying to the Society and to the Dominion, it cannot be less so to Lord and Lady Plunket, who have never for a moment lost faith or interest in the work they put their hands to, and for which they worked so hard. Wo are proud to quote two sentences used by their Excellencies, wlvch are always beside us as a reminder of their high conception of the. Society’s mission. On the silver medallion which Lady Plunket supplies for every Plunket Nurse is graven: “ Love, pity, and sympathy for God’s sake and His little ones.”

While the manifesto published and distributed by their Excellencies throughout the Dominion in 1908 boro the following heading:

“ Fob the sake of women and children. FOE THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE DOMINION, AND FOB THE HONOUR OF THE EMPIRE.”