DR. F. TRUBY KING'S PAPER 261 



been moribund when sent in, and have succumbed 

 within the first day or two, or at longest within the 

 first week. 



The admissions have embraced all classes, from 

 the children of doctors and professional nurses to 

 motherless foundlings, but we do not take in defectives 

 or babies suffering from specially dangerous infective 

 diseases, such as tuberculosis or syphilis. 



The treatment is very simple and mainly hygienic. 

 So far as pure air is concerned the conditions, summer 

 and winter, are almost those of an open air phthisis 

 sanatorium. To prevent chilling, great attention is 

 given to systematic bed-making, on lines equivalent 

 to providing sleeping bags, this being also beneficial 

 to the babies in that they can be kept warm and 

 comfortable, with much lighter and less hampering 

 bed-clothes than would otherwise be needed. 



Feeding is conducted on so-called "percentage'' 

 lines, all milk modifications being prepared simply but 

 accurately by the nurses and baby "nurse girls" 

 undergoing training in the institution, who are further 

 required to attain proficiency and facility in percentage 

 calculations, and to master the meaning, bearing, and 

 practical every-day use of food values and caloric 

 estimates. 



Regarding the utility of the routine practice of 

 making caloric estimates in infant feeding, I am of 

 course aware that there is some difference of opinion 

 in the medical profession, but our experience leaves 

 no doubt whatever in my own mind, or in that of my 

 colleagues, as to the cardinal importance of taking 

 into account not only the percentage composition, but 

 also the fuel value (in other words, the importance of 

 the habit of thinking and working in percentages and 

 calories), not only as a check on mistakes, but also 

 as a preventive of mere slipshod guessing when 

 determining and grading ahead the progressive food 

 allowance for any baby. Thus, knowing the average 



