35 



in England, and not to be obtained at all in the drug establishments of 

 Tasmania. The great danger to be avoided in using cow's milk,is its 

 liabiHty to become sour, for acescent milk given to children is the 

 great source of the bowel complaints, which carry off so many hand- 

 fed children, so that it has almost become an axiom with medical men, 

 that nine tenths of such children will die within one year after burth. 

 Moreover, " wheaten flour, and the starchy farina generally have an 

 acid reaction, and contain less alkali than milk ; while, though women's 

 milk contains less salts than cow's milk^it possesses a stronger alkaline 

 reaction, and contains more free alkah, which in milk is always 

 potash." " This alkali, we must pre-suppose, is requsite in the body 

 for the normal functions of the child." Therefore, in compounding 

 from cow's milk, wheaten flour, malt flour, and water, a substitute for 

 woman's milk, potash must be added. This, I thmk, has generally 

 been overlooked by medical practitioners. This "soup"as Baron Liebig 

 denominates it, is prepared as follows : — " One part of wheat flour is 

 put into the vessel used for making the soup (an enamelled saucepan 

 is the best), and 10 parts of skimmed cow's milk are then added 

 gradually, in small quantities, the mixture being stirred all the while 

 uninterruptedly, to prevent the pap forming into lumps. To this 

 mixture a proportion of bi-carbonate of potash is added, and then 

 made to boil, the stirring continuing all the while, and after boiling 

 from 3 to 4 minutes, the vessel is removed from the fire. ^ 



" One part of malt flour is now weighed, and mixed with 2 parts of 

 water, and this is poured into the hot pap, and the whole once more 

 stirred the while. 



" The vessel is then covered to prevent the contents from cooling, 

 and left to stand for half an hour. In order to avoid a too rapid 

 cooKng of the soup, it is advisable, after the addition of the malt, to 

 put the vessel in hot-^-nearly boilmg — water by which it becomes 

 thinner and sweeter. At the end of this time the whole is passed 

 through a fine sieve, in which the bran of the malt flour remains 

 behind. 



" For those persons who are acquainted with the mashing process, 

 it is hardly necessary to call attention to the circumstance that after 

 the addition of the malt the temperature ought not to exceed 148 

 Fahrenheit. 



*' In the preceding du-ections the time reckoned for the weighing 

 and mixing the malt- flour with water is exactly sufficient to cool down 

 the boiling milk pap to such a degree that when the malt is added, 

 this mashing temperature is obtained." When the soup is properly 

 prepared, it is as sweet as milk, and any further sweetening is 

 unnecessary. It contains the double concentration of woman's milk. 

 After boiling, the soup will keep 24 hours without undergoing any 

 change. The malt-flour can be obtained by grinding malt in a 

 coffee-mill, and sifting through a sieve or flour-dredge.^ I have pre- 

 pared this artificial mother's -milk, and made a meal, of it. It is both 

 palatable and easily digested. A portion kept in the ordinary tem- 

 perature of a room was perfectly good and sweet, and exhibited the 

 ajkaline reaction to the litmus-paper test,when tried 27 hours after- 

 wards. Nevertheless I shall always recommend that a baby's supply 

 shall be freshly made night and morning,and that the most scrupulous 

 attention be given to the cleanliness of all the utensils used. The 

 proportions fused to meet this twelve-hourly demand as nearly as 



