DRIED MILK AS A FOOD FOR INFANTS 209 



Dele*pine, who carried out investigations upon the bacterial 

 content of milk, which had been subjected to the drying process, 

 concludes that there is a very great reduction in the total number 

 of bacteria present, but that the milk is not rendered sterile in 

 the process. 



The investigators above mentioned draw attention to the changes 

 in relative composition which must be allowed for, when the fat is 

 removed prior to desiccation. 



Experimental Data on the Value of Dried Milk as a Food.- 

 A few investigations have been carried out with a view to ascer- 

 taining the nutritive value of dried milk as a food. Jacquet 

 subjected himself to a diet of dried milk and rusks for a period of 

 six days. He examined carefully the nitrogen taken in and the 

 nitrogen eliminated, and found that nitrogenous equilibrium was 

 maintained after the first two days of this diet, while in the 

 later days there was a slight retention of nitrogen. Jacquet 

 also carried out observations on the metabolism of a child of seven 

 months who was fed on dried milk, with satisfactory results. 

 The nitrogen content of the milk taken was estimated and also 

 the nitrogen content of the faeces. A high rate of absorption 

 of nitrogen was found, amounting to over 90 per cent. 



Brezina and Lazar carried out metabolism experiments upon 

 one adult and three children. The results showed a better utilisation 

 of the milk by the children than by the adult. The children were 

 aged four, seven, and eight years respectively, and other food 

 was allowed during the course of the experiment. The diet 

 included at first a given quantity of raw milk, the nitrogen meta- 

 bolism being investigated. The raw milk was then changed to 

 dried milk. The highest absorption of nitrogen took place in the 

 youngest child, aged four, and reached 92-93 per cent, of the total. 

 The percentage of nitrogen absorbed by the other children was 

 92 per cent, in the case of the child of seven and 86 per cent, in the 

 case of the child of eight. 



Seligmann fed dogs first upon raw and then upon dried milk, 

 and found that the utilisation of the dried milk was apparently 

 not quite so good as that of the raw milk. The dogs were young 

 puppies of the same litter, and the experiment was carried out over 

 a short period only. 



Delepine conducted some feeding experiments on rabbits, using 

 raw cows' milk, condensed milk and dried milk. In each series 

 of animals four rabbits were used, and the amount of food and the 

 weight of the rabbit on each day were noted. The rabbits were 

 young and were kept under observation for two weeks before com- 

 mencing the experiment, which lasted for approximately nine 

 weeks. Oats were given in addition to the milk, but as this was 

 arranged in a similar manner for all groups, it need not be con- 

 sidered in detail. 



The dried milk was made up with sterilised water, at first in 



p 



