The analysis of artifacts exhumed on the site of the new Maison de Radio-Canada, in Montreal, made it possible to identify a cork belonging to what doctors at the end of the 19th centurye century nicknamed the “killer baby bottle” because of a design flaw that made it a breeding ground for bacteria.
The discovery of this piece of ceramic measuring four centimeters in diameter is exceptional in the Quebec archaeological context. “I don’t know if it’s unique, but it’s not common,” explains Isabelle Hade, specialist in material culture for the firm Ethnoscop.
On the outside of the cap, we can still read the surname of William Mather, the manufacturer of Princess baby bottles which were produced in England between 1871 and 1890. The purple letters of the inscription form an arc around the hole through which A tube of about fifty centimeters was inserted, connected to a rubber pacifier.
This revolutionary baby bottle was to promote the autonomy of the infant and the emancipation of the Victorian woman. “It freed the mother a little,” explains Isabelle Hade. The mothers were proud that their babies fed themselves, like today basically. »
However, cleaning this bottle placed in the cradles was difficult, which encouraged the proliferation of bacteria. Especially since it was usually washed on a monthly basis. The milk had plenty of time to stick to the walls of the tube overheated by its exposure to the sun.
Misleading advertising
Patented in 1869 by the French industrialist Édouard Robert, the tube bottle made it possible to avoid infant exhaustion, as underlined in broad strokes by an advertising poster from 1882 featuring a very fat baby surrounded by medals obtained by the manufacturer.
“The publicity was very strong,” observes Isabelle Hade. If we want to be modern, we must buy these products. For the mothers, it spoke volumes: the bottle was winning prizes, so they felt safe. »
The distribution of the tube bottle in Quebec is unclear. “It is difficult to have data on consumer objects,” explains historian Denyse Baillargeon, in an interview with The duty. If we found one [à Montréal], we can think that there were several others. This discovery means that it was relatively widespread among certain classes of society. »
Milk was sometimes sold in bulk in local grocery stores. Women would dip a ladle into a cauldron to fill their containers, so you can imagine all the possibilities for contamination.
This is the case of the Princess cork which was found in the latrines of a teacher at the Sainte-Marie academy, Michael Riordan, whose salary was a little higher than that of his neighbors in the “faubourg à m’lasse “. This teacher occupied the site between 1881 and 1903, at the height of the marketing of this baby bottle. It is possible that the cork found by archaeologists was thrown into the latrines following awareness campaigns carried out by French hygienists at the end of the 19th century.e century. Contemporaries then became aware of the dangers of tube feeding bottles, the sale of which was banned in France from 1910.
It is unknown whether the plug discovered in the Riordan house latrine still contained bacteria. “To find out, we would have to carry out specialized analyzes which have not been carried out,” explains Isabelle Hade.
Hecatomb
Beyond the “killer bottle”, the presence of which remains anecdotal in Quebec, it is the poor quality of the milk which explains the exponential infant mortality at the end of the 19th century.e century, which takes one in four babies in French-Canadian families.
Milk consumed in Montreal was contaminated as soon as it left the farm by being transported in cans that were not always adequately cleaned. The containers then spent long periods of time in the sun on the platforms of the railway stations. “We sometimes sold milk in bulk in local grocery stores,” recalls Denyse Baillargeon. Women would dip a ladle into a cauldron to fill their containers, so you can imagine all the possibilities for contamination. »
The contents of the bottle were also infected by the water that poor families added to lengthen the milk. We also mixed flour, egg white and even borax purchased at the pharmacy. “We had the impression that certain ingredients made it possible to purify the milk, or at least to preserve its qualities for longer,” explains Denyse Baillargeon.
Infant mortality more affected the babies of French-Canadian mothers who generally switched to bottle-feeding after two months of breastfeeding. This rapid interruption would result in particular from religious and family modesty, young women often sharing their roof with in-laws after their marriage. “We couldn’t breastfeed easily,” recalls the historian. You had to do it secretly, in your room, and when you were a mother, it was complicated to leave young children alone in other rooms. »
Shortened breastfeeding was reasonable from the point of view of French Canadian mothers. “They knew that it was necessary to breastfeed minimally to “get the child off” well. It was their expression, to “leave it in life”, but after two months, we said to ourselves that it was enough,” explains Mme Baillargeon.