AIMS OF MODERN PEDIATRICS 493 



The prophylaxis in regard to birth injuries belongs to obstetrics. 

 Here I only wish to mention the original idea of Professor Gaertner 

 to overcome the grave asphyxia of the new-born by the introduc- 

 tion of oxygen into the umbilical vein. Apart from this, the task 

 of the pediatrist is to make the surroundings of the new-born as 

 much like the conditions existing in utero as possible, for which 

 purpose an incubator may occasionally be useful. The delicacy of 

 the skin and mucous membranes requires especial care in the clean- 

 sing and clothing of the child. It is well known that most of the 

 diseases of the mouth which occur in the first few years are caused, 

 or at least favored by mechanical injuries. Of course, another factor, 

 infection, must assist. The slightest lesion of the coverings, how- 

 ever, and the ordinary pus bacteria which are ubiquitous in man's 

 surroundings suffice already for their occurrence. To their fre- 

 quency and danger the old foundling asylum statistics and hos- 

 pital reports, in which 80 % to 100 % of the infants admitted died, 

 bear witness. Through the introduction of asepsis and antisepsis 

 into the care of nurslings, a revolution of these relations and a de- 

 crease in the septis diseases which is comparable to the precaution 

 of puerperal fever by Semmelweiss has taken place. 



The largest and most difficult task in this period of life, however, 

 is the nourishment. The intestinal canal of the nursing child must 

 in spite of the backwardness of its development, assimilate a suffi- 

 cient quantity of food for the body-weight to treble itself. 



This task is comparatively easily accomplished if the natural 

 nourishment which suits the nursling's needs so wonderfully, 

 mother's milk, is to be had. The difficulty is immeasurably in- 

 creased, however, if the mother, from lack of milk or for social 

 reasons is unable to nurse her child, a state of affairs which is more 

 and more often met with. As the knowledge of metabolic processes, 

 in spite of the great amount of work spent on it, is not sufficiently 

 advanced to permit the setting-up of experimentally determined 

 values, we are to-day, as in former times, required to keep to the 

 model of mother's milk, and to make the cow's milk which is used 

 in artificial feeding as much like it as possible. 



The differences of percentage composition, which at first were 

 considered to be of the greatest importance, we have learned to 

 overcome completely by sufficient dilution and addition of proper 

 amounts of fat and carbohydrates. On the other hand, in course 

 of investigation, the cleft which existed in reference to the quality 

 of the different foodstuffs, has widened. At least, this is true of 

 the most important one of them, the albumin. This shows irre- 

 mediable differences from the albumin of mother's milk, not only 

 in its elementary composition and chemic reactions, but, as it comes 

 from a different sort of animal, also in its biologic behavior. Wasser- 



