The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-01-15
BABY FOODS.

earth the human appears to be the
only one not able completely to meet
the obligations and fulfill all the
functions of parenthood. 1t is notorl-
GUS and regrettable fact that very
| large and constantly increasing per-
centage of infants have to be artiiciai'
ly fed solely because of the functional
inability of mothers to deliver milk
either in sufficient quality or guam
tity to supply the nutritiVe needs of
the child.
Women of hardy country stock and
women of savage tribes are rarely il
ever troubled by inability properly to
nourish their babies at their breasts,
but in our towns and cities the trouble
grows apace and has come to constl'
tute the chief peril of infancy. How
great this peril actually is may per
haps best be Comprehended by noting
certain evidence obtainable from the
published statistics of the city OF
Berlin, where all foodstuffs and, in
fact, everything pertaining to the
physical welfare of the people are OBJ
jects of rigid scrutiny and are sub
jected to the most comprehensive apd
thorough modern scientific SUPERVISED,
by the duly constituted authorities
According to the Berlin official death
returns for a given year, this evil
dence shows that, while the mortal
ity among breast fed infants was 7.6
per cent, it rose to 4S,1 per cent
among the bottle fed babies.
Germany leads the world in chemis.
try, in science and in scientific meth.
DDS in general, and inasmuch as the
government is more or less paternal
and because it considers every healthy
child national and military asset, it
is very reasonable to assume that the
prepared foods, modified cows milk
and any and all other substitutes for
the human milk were undoubtedly as
pure and wholesome as it would be
possible for human agency to make
them. Hence the difference between
7.6 per cent anG 4S1 per cent repre-
sents an approximate minimum death
forfeit incident to artificial feeding
what may reasonably be considered
an irreducble minimum penalty levied
as natures protest against human
stupidity.
The medical profession is practical.
ly unit on the proposition that every
woman should nurse her own child
through the period of infancy; but
unfortunately no concerted action to.
ward attaining this highly desirable
and absolute necessary end is posi-.
BILE, so long as the profession indiyid
ually considers it good business to
bid for popularity.
Cows milk is the basis of practical
ly all human milk substitutes. That
it is a woefully defective basis is
proved by the fact that man is ad.
justed to a scale requiring doubling
of the body weight within approx.
mately five months or $50 days after
birth, while the COW doubles its body
weight within Al days after birth.
In view of what we know about the
absolute correspondence among things
everywhere throughout the universe
the following statements by Bunge are
highly significant in this connection:
"In one woman during the first month
after birth the milk contained Is per
mile proteid, whereas in the tenth
month the amount had dropped to
nine mile, the proportions of ash hav.
ing likewise decreased" The diminu.
ton of proteid in the milk as lacta-
ton proceeds has also been observed
and tabulated by other authors for
man and animals.
If not even wet nurse can com
pletely replace the mother unless her
infant has been born on the same day
as her foster child" is 1t reasonable
to expect that COW may be fit sub
stitute? Obviously it is futile to hope
that any chemist will ever evolve a
formula for the successful modifca-
ton of cows milk to the human baby
needs. And the baby dependent on
the COW and bottle will ever be
handicapped to the same extent as is
the chick having a kerosene lamp
for foster mother-approximately 40
per cent. plus.
In the broad sense of the term the
secret Of healthy plants and abundant
crops is known to depend on ade.
quate nutrition, and the key to healthy
animal life is the same. Funks re-
cent demonstration of the vitamines,
those complex proteins, minute GUAM.
titles of which are absolutely neces.
sary to life, throws quite a new light
on the food question and makes a
logical consideration of tabloid meals
forever impossible. The logical line
of progress is not In devising substi-
tutes, but in building up the natural
supply.
Less time given to wrangling over
the respective merits Of pasteurized,
sterilized or raw cows milk, of patent
baby foods and refrigeration, and
more thought given to the mother at
the right time, Is the solution Of the
problem. An adequate supply of
natural mothers milk gives the best
heritage any baby can have.