224 THE MILK QUESTION 



ence so far as nutrition is concerned between those re- 

 ceiving the raw milk and those receiving the cooked 

 milk. 



Finkelstein tells us that similar experiments made in 

 Stockholm, but continued over a longer time, viz., three 

 years, confirmed his observations and failed to show any 

 difference between the two methods. 



So far as other metabolism experiments on infants are 

 concerned, they likewise practically all point to the conclu- 

 sion that raw milk has no advantage over cooked milk. 

 This is especially evident with respect to the organic con- 

 stituents of milk. So far as the metabolism of the mineral 

 substances is concerned the evidence is somewhat contra- 

 dictory. Thus, Mueller and Cronheim found the calcium 

 balance to favor raw milk. 1 These results have not been 

 confirmed by the work of others. 



Krasnogorky found that iron is taken up more readily 

 from cooked than from raw milk. 



So far as we are able to conclude from the evidence at 

 hand upon metabolism experiments, raw milk certainly has 

 no advantages over cooked milk. 



When we consider that we know practically nothing of 

 the essential nature of scurvy we must be cautious in con- 

 sidering the connection between pasteurization and scurvy 

 as cause and effect. Rotch, 2 for instance, says: 



In those cases where scorbutus has apparently occurred in 

 infants who were being fed on milk heated to 212, it may have 

 been some other quality in the milk which produced the scorbutus, 

 and that either the percentages which the infant has been fed 

 upon are not those which are adapted to and fitted to that espe- 

 cial infant or that it is an exceedingly dirty milk which they have 

 been boiling at 212, and which necessarily does not become 

 sterile milk in the meaning of infecting the individual. 



1 Finkelstein, H., "Die rohe Milch in der Saulingsernahrung," Therap. 

 Monatsh., vol. 21, October, 1907, p. 508. 



2 Rotch, Thomas Morgan, "The Pasteurization of Milk for Public 

 Sale," Am. Journ. Pub. Hyg., vol. 17, May, 1907, p. 181. ^ _ 



