166 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



sume ; and that food must be supplied to us in such a way 

 that we can digest it and appropriate it, and we cannot 

 do that successfully unless it is properly cooked. 



Mr. Peterson. If there are any exceptions, doctor, I 

 suppose they would be in favor of fruit, especially for the 

 young? 



Dr. Lynde. As a general rule, it is better that fruit 

 should be cooked. I am not certain but that, as a general 

 rule, that wonderful substance which you have been talking 

 of this afternoon, that is so perfectly elaborated in the lacteal 

 glands of the cow and of human beino-s, — I am not certain 

 that that wonderful fluid may not be rendered more digest- 

 ible, more acceptable to the human stomach, if it goes 

 through a slight process of cooking. That is to say, it is 

 altogether probable, indeed, I think it is altogether true, 

 that milk, when supplied to the human young or to the 

 older person, is made more digestiljle by heating it up to a 

 certain point, say to the point where the milk begins to 

 simmer around the edges of the dish in which you are heat- 

 ing it. But if you boil that milk you change its properties ; 

 it is a diiferent substance from what it was before. 



Allow me to digress for a moment to something which is 

 practical, and, to my mind, exceedingly important. You 

 are all aware that a great deal has been said in the last few 

 years, both in this country and abroad, in relation to the 

 subject of tuberculosis in cattle and in hogs. A great deal 

 has been said, a great deal has been written upon it ; and it 

 is a sul^ject which comes right home to every man, woman 

 and child in the community. It touches the welfare of the 

 coQimunity at its start, at its root ; and if it is true that we 

 are liable to take the germs of consumption into our systems, 

 if it is true that children who are fed the milk of our cows 

 are liable to get tuberculosis from infected milk, — and the 

 truth of it cannot be controverted, — that being so, how im- 

 portant it is that the milk of the infant who receives its 

 nourishment from the milk of an animal other than its mother 

 should be administered in its purity ; and if the child is in 

 danger of taking tuberculosis from the use of tainted or im- 

 pure milk, how important it is, if that can be prevented, that 



