that the
daughters of such a stock are mostly unable to nurse their children. It
is not quite certain that Professor von Bunge has proved his case, but
it is definitely proved that even if alcoholism in the maternal
grandparent has not altogether prevented a child from being fed in the
natural fashion, it may yet suffer gravely in consequence of receiving
alcohol in its mother's milk. In the case of the nursing mother, there
is one fresh avenue of excretion which the organism can employ for
ridding itself of the poison, and to the efforts of the lungs and the
kidneys are added those of the breasts. Alcohol can be readily traced in
the mother's milk within twenty minutes of its entry into her stomach,
and may be detected in it for as long as eight hours after a large dose.
Many cases are on record where infants at the breast have thus become
the subjects of both acute and chronic alcoholic poisoning. We have
numerous reports of convulsions and other disorders occurring in infants
when the nurse has taken liquor, and ceasing when she has been put on a
non-alcoholic diet. A most distinguished lady, Dr. Mary Scharlieb, may
be quoted in this connection, or the reader may indeed refer to the
chapter, "Alcoholism in Relation to Women and Children," contributed by
her to the volume "The Drink Problem" in my New Library of Medicine. She
says, "The child, then, absolutely receives alcohol as part of his diet
with the worst effect upon his organs, for alcohol has a greater effect
upon cells in proportion to their immaturity." Further, as she points
out, "the milk of the alcoholic mother not only contains alcohol, but it
is otherwise unsuitable for the infant's nourishment; it does not
contain the proper proportions of proteid, sugar, fat, etc., and it is
therefore not suited for the building up of a healthy body."

It is plain that here we cannot avoid criticism of an almost universal
medical practice. Our concern in the present volume is not with children
but women; and in dealing with the effects of maternal alcoholism upon
childhood, the main intention is being kept in view. As regards the
giving of alcohol to the nursing mother, there is no doubt that the
child is more seriously in danger than she is. There is no doubt also
that, as one has often pointed out, the Children Act which forbids the
giving of alcohol to children under five years old is being broken when
the nursing mother takes alcohol. I refer to this subject here