Farinaceous Foods. There are many farinaceous forms of food prepared for the use of infants and children. Probably the most valuable of them are those made according to the Liebig process. The starch of the grain from which such foods are prepared is, in the process of manufacture, changed into soluble dextrine, or sugar (glucose), by the action of the diastase of malt: the very thing which an infant cannot do.

1 See the works of Drs. Louis Starr, Uffelmann, and Jacobi.

2 The amount of condensation in preserved milk may be easily ascertained by noting the amount of water which it is necessary to add in order to make its specific gravity equal to that of ordinary milk.

When we consider that the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal consists of this change into glucose, and that it is effected principally by the saliva and the pancreatic juice, the significance of the value of such foods will be seen.

It is also well to bear in mind that neither of these functions (the secretion of saliva and pancreatic juice) is developed in an infant until it enters the third month of its life, and then but very imperfectly. That alone shows the necessity of excluding all starch from its food up to that age.

Mellin's food and malted milk are prepared according to the Liebig process. In them the starch has been converted into soluble matter by the action of the ferment of malt. It is really a partial prediges-tion. Mellin's food does not contain milk.

The following analysis of Mellin's food is one made by Professor Fresenius, of Wiesbaden, Germany:

Cane sugar, none. Reaction, alkaline.

Comparative analysis of Mellin's food, prepared for use, with that of woman's milk and cow's milk.

This analysis shows that Mellin's food bears comparison with milk. It is easily digested, and as an attenuant for milk may be used without harm during the early months of life, but it should not be used to the exclusion of milk for more than a few days at a time, and then only when milk is not retained by the stomach.

Later it is doubtless a valuable addition to the regular daily food of the child.

Malted milk is made from selected grain and desiccated or dried milk. To prepare it for the infant it needs only the addition of water. It is probably one of the best substitutes for milk, but should not be used for any length of time when it is possible to get good milk.

The starch of grains may be converted into dextrine and glucose by the action of heat as well as by the action of diastase, so that when flour is subjected to a certain temperature, and for a certain time, this change is produced.

Nestle's food, Imperial Granum, Ridge's food, and some others are made very carefully from selected wheat by this process. Nestles food contains dried milk.

These foods are all valuable when made into gruel or porridge, but should be used very sparingly under the age of twelve months, and then only as attenuants for milk, not as substitutes for it.

Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, editor of " Domestic Hygiene of the Child," by Uffelmann (a translation), in speaking of the value of the various preparations of infants' food on the market, says: " There is not the slightest reason to prefer them to milk or its preparations, except that the latter requires more care; and for any intelligent and affectionate mother this reason is quite insufficient. . . . During the first year the baby is building up tissues and organs that are to last him throughout life; and these will work well or ill according to the degree of perfection and precision of structure which they attain at the beginning. And this depends to an immense extent upon the suitability of the food, not only to be digested, but to be absorbed, and then to be assimilated and organized.

" So mysterious are the properties of the molecules of albumen and fat, when once they have been thrown into the whirl of the living organism, that we must strive to deviate as little as possible from the exact forms given to us in nature, if only because we do not know what remote effects might result from the deviations. If nature provides the albumen of milk and a living fluid, we cannot expect the same results from any other albumen, or from long dead organic matter, as condensed milk."

The farinaceous foods have value, but they cannot replace good milk, which should be almost the sole food of the child to at least the age of ten months, and the principal nutrient to the age of two years.

"When a baby is nursed, and its mother has an abundance of milk, it takes nothing else during the first ten or twelve months of life. When a baby is artificially fed, this fact should be borne in mind. The important thing is to attain as nearly as possible to the standard that nature has set.

Biedert's cream mixture and the whey mixture are valuable for young infants and those which for any reason do not thrive on milk.

Amount for Each Meal. A child is nourished, not by what it swallows, but by what it digests. Giving too much or too concentrated milk is very unwise, for the delicate system cannot manage it, and too frequently the meal becomes a source of pain rather than of strength. Each individual babe will require a little different treatment in this respect from every other.

In general, for the first six weeks from two to four tablespoons at a feeding may be given; from that age to six months, from four to eight tablespoons, gradually increasing the amount to twelve tablespoons at one year.

Dilution. Cow's milk is more easily digested when diluted with water, and we are more likely to dilute too little than too much. The amount of water used should vary with the age and strength of digestion of the child. As a rule the new-born infant should have two parts water to one of milk; at four months equal parts of milk and water; at ten months one part water and two parts milk. When digestion is particularly feeble, it may be necessary to dilute milk with six or eight times its bulk of water.