The Green Forest tribune., 1909-01-15
lsses'&sAssOk0sNoSOO
 by Joseph B. Rnwles l
INFANT FEEDING.

.n and other forms of intemperanc
 undoubtedly hereditary whethe
 g habits of alcoholism, tobacco an
 natural eating are transmissible c
 We know that the vitality of tn
 rant is determined by the vitality (
 parents-though not altogether b
 average vitality-and the power
 Nutrition are the fundamental DOW
 transmitted to offspring.
 We may not always be able to trac
 mily history in eyes and lungs, bu
 can always find it in stomach an
 yer and intestines
 The food of the young dog. horse
 0w, ape and human, in common wit
 " other mammalia, is milk The nat
 Eai food of the mature dog is flesh
 at of the others is vegetable. Tn,
 Neestfvc systems of the ape and mal
 sembie, slightly, that of the dog !, 4nt. saiEk. as some argue, becaus. Heir natural food is largely flesh. bu nScause nuts closely resemble fiest chemically. The sJrIria has "canine, D Reth. but 1t is strict vegetarian. ThI car's canine teeth @se his mearl 4 defense. \
 Albumen, the chief constituent b aMesh, is digested chiefly in the stoh h ch by the action of. syys gastric fluid accordingly, the fntesfs.o Gf the Cbs short in proportion. the stomach he Mg 50 per cent of the entire diges Ee 1ract. The cows stomach is very esSn plicated; she has, in fact, four Is Hn. achs. This is because her natElral food requires much dilution wit 9ssa- Ilva and rumination before it e E he passed on to the intestine, not Jfhal proteid is the chief element #tbe cow's food, as in the dog. .4N # Now the stomach of the cow Nays "a much more important part, res lEely fo the intestinal digestion, thK in Tman. Cows milk is, chemicallM and mechanically, adapted to this 6ysio- Illogical difference. It does not & soon fbreak up into small curds, sh@ is. ffherefore, retained longer in thEkalfs s stomach. This peculiarity paIdy ex. plains the difficulty of digestiIk cows milk and should be considered 3n any attempt to modify cows milk so as to adapt it to infant feeding. l4
 We know that the health tiEthe in- liant, its nervous moods, tsfbhysical q tn and temper in genershyare in auenced by those of the lmother. through the food This alonei Yould in- dicate the impossibility oN@ perfect adaptation of cows milk to infant feeding. At best it is unnatural but as it is in many cases nece&ary part- iy or entirely, we must maM the most of it. An imperfectly nourished child is more liable to diseases of child hood and survives with Aareater diff fculty. Food is not oflhourse inc only requirement for hea h but it is fundamental. E
 While the food of alltlkoung man. malia is milk, yet the mHk is adapted to their varying deve bpment and varies to large degree As the food of the parent. The milk M the dog. for instance. typical of f'sh-eating ami mals, contains about j8x times as much proteid as that N non-iesh eat. CTS, including man. TT @ proteid in hu-
 H man milk is about o&e-third that in cows and sheep's milH Wool requires large percentage ofbroteid, and the COW as she exists b-day produces three times as muchUsolids, including fat. as most other Nherbivorous ami mals, largely because the demand for rich" milk has caused the rejection of those animals that yielded thin milk The fat, however, in rich dairy cows and human milk is nearly equal, but the sugar in the former isl only about half. The tat in dogs milFE is three times that in human milkf the sugar one-th1rd This variation int dicates that fruit sugar should form a lasse part of the food of infants, als of children and adults. The supply of candy to children, or of cane sugar, in the form of cft teap candies, poisoned with coloring nf4tters, instead of fruit sugar, which is fan important eleman of the natural diet. is a serious error.
 In cases in Which cows milk must be used, care should be taken to see that the COW lis healthy. unless nerd milk is used, lthat no preservatife is used. that thf bottles and otheJ yes. sels with which 1t comes in cdntact are washed well with boiling water, never with river or cistern water, that 1t Is not nnecessarily exposed to dust or harnyar4 contamination, for milk absorbs baqteria as a sponge absorbs water and ithey develop very rapidly. The fc e@in9s bottle should be thorough 1y Washed in boiling water after and before using. It is best to have two, the one nd,t in use kept immersed in a solution 9f common baking soda
 Cow $ milk can not be made iden, fical wifh the infants natural food, but it cfn be approximated to it. The chief dsficulty to be overcome is to modlfy2khe large cards of cows milk that tspd to remain in the stomach lonserythan they should, hs the de veiopnlent of the calf's aEomach 4e quires lthat it's food shall hkve much heaviek eurd than that reqltired by tks infan3 in which intestinil digestjEl is moee important The tse of lYIdc tables, as explained in Eny last ar uc'e, entirely obyiates this difficulty besides overcoming otheE objections to tlIe use of cows mi!kI
 Tg reduce the propcl bon Of the ele ments in cows milk u Approximately the standard of humtn snilk. pour of aboat half of the ia That settles tc the top of the bottle: d as much wa 8ter as the whole amounE of milk and a tablespoonful of sugarf Milk sugarS is 10 be preferred to cane sugar, always Objectionable. The at kdition of a lit ie lime water is, in nlany cases, bene fcial.