On Monday Mr. Burns delivered the presidential address to the
National Conference on Infantile Mortality. He had thought that "in controversies relating to liquids the field was held by disagreement as to the merits of pot-still and patent-still whisky, but these rival fluids had been eclipsed by the controversies raging round the various milk diets for children. The sterilised Montagues were fighting the Pasteurised Capulets, and the refrigerated champions, with cold and scientific disdain, were looking on to see . who was likely to be the winner." His own choice was in favour of natural milk. A mother ought not to contract out of the due course of maternity. The best substitute was cow's milk, which was not used in Britain nearly as much as it ought to be, or even as it might be. Mr. Burns went on to show that our figures of infant mortality are not so bad as in other countries ; yet they are bad enough, and ought to be much better considering the lead we have maintained in sanitation. "We are concentrating on the child," said Mr. Burns, "as we have never done before. We are beginning to think of the mother and the home."
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