been widely influential for good. At
the _Consultations_ infants are examined and weighed weekly, and
the mothers advised and encouraged to suckle their children. The
_Gouttes_ are practically milk dispensaries where infants for
whom breast-feeding is impossible are fed with milk under medical
supervision. Schools for Mothers represent an enlargement of the
same scheme, covering a variety of subjects which it is necessary
for a mother to know. Some of the first of these schools were
established at Bonn, at the Bavarian town of Weissenberg, and in
Ghent. At some of the Schools for Mothers, and notably at Ghent
(described by Mrs. Bertrand Russell in the _Nineteenth Century_,
1906), the important step has been taken of giving training to
young girls from fourteen to eighteen; they receive instruction
in infant anatomy and physiology, in the preparation of
sterilized milk, in weighing children, in taking temperatures and
making charts, in managing creches, and after two years are able
to earn a salary. In various parts of England, schools for young
mothers and girls on these lines are now being established, first
in London, under the auspices of Dr. F.J. Sykes, Medical Officer
of Health for St. Pancreas (see, e.g., _A School For Mothers_,
1908, describing an establishment of this kind at Somers Town,
with a preface by Sir Thomas Barlow; an account of recent
attempts to improve the care of infants in London will also be
found in the _Lancet_, Sept. 26, 1908). It may be added that some
English municipalities have established depots for supplying
mothers cheaply with good milk. Such depots are, however, likely
to be more mischievous than beneficial if they promote the
substitution of hand-feeding for suckling. They should never be
established except in connection with Schools for Mothers, where
an educational influence may be exerted, and no mother should be
supplied with milk unless she presents a medical certificate
showing that she is unable to nourish her child (Byers, "Medical
Women and Public Health Questions," _British Medical Journal_,
Oct. 6, 1906). It is noteworthy that in England the local
authorities will shortly be empowered by law to establish Schools
for Mothers.

The great benefits produced by these institutions in France, both
in diminishing the infant mortality