MINERAL BODIES OF THE MILK AND THE NURSLING. 633 



of iron we find an unexpected condition, the ash of the new-born animal 

 containing six times as much as the milk-ash. This condition BUNGE 

 explains by the fact founded on his and ZALESKY'S experiments, that the 

 quantity of iron in the entire organism is highest at birth. The new-born 

 has therefore its own supply of iron for the growth of its organs even at 

 birth. 



The investigations of HUGOUNENQ, DE LANGE, CAMERER and SOLDNER l 

 have shown that in man the conditions are different from those in animals, 

 as the ash of the child has an entirely different composition as compared 

 with the milk. As an example the following analyses are given (of 

 CAMERER and SOLDNER). (A, the ash of the sucking infant, and B, the 



ash of the milk.) The results are in 1000 parts of the ash. 



A B 



K 2 78 314 



Na 2 O 91 119 



CaO 361 164 



MgO 9 26 



Fe 2 O 3 8 6 



P 2 O 3 389 . 135 



Cl 77 200 



We cannot therefore state as a definite fact that the composition of 

 the ash of the sucking young and the ash of the corresponding milk coin- 

 cide. BUNGE 2 nevertheless claims that the composition of the ash of 

 the sucking young of various mammals is nearly the same, but that the 

 ash of the milk differs from the ash of the young in so far as the slower 

 the young grows the richer it is in alkali chlorides and relatively poorer 

 in phosphates and lime-salts. The constituents of the ash have two 

 functions to perform, namely, the building up of the tissues and secondly 

 the preparation of the excreta, especially the urine. The faster the 

 young grows the more is the first in evidence, while the slower it 

 develops, the more prominent is the second. 



The quantity of mineral bodies in the milk, and especially the amount 

 of lime and phosphoric acid, as shown by BUNGE and PROSCHER and 

 PAGES, stands in close relation to the rapidity of growth, because 

 the amount of these mineral constituents in the milk is greater in animals 

 which grow and develop quickly than in those which grow only slowly. 

 A similar relation also exists, as shown by the researches of PROSCHER, 

 and especially of ABDERHALDEN, S between the quantity of protein in 

 the milk and the rapidity of development of the sucking young. The 

 amount of protein is greater in the milk the quicker the animal develops. 



1 Hugounenq, Compt. rend., 128; de Lange, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 40; Camerer 

 and Soldner, ibid., 39, 40, and 44. 



2 Bunge, "Die zunehmende Unfahigkeit der Frauen ihre Kinder zu stillen," Miin- 

 chen, 1900, cited by Camerer, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 40. 



3 Proscher, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 24; Abderhalden, ibid., 27; Pages, Arch* 

 de Physiol. (5), 7. 



