SUMMARY OF CHAPTER IX 



ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF BOILED MILK OF THE SAME SPECIES 



IT may appear at first sight that it would always be superfluous 

 to boil the milk for the young of the same species. This procedure 

 may, however, be necessary in special cases, where there is danger 

 of disease in the mother becoming transmitted to the offspring 

 through the milk. 



Human Milk. In this country the question of boiling human 

 milk may be said not to arise, but in other countries where wet- 

 nurses are used, it becomes a matter of considerable importance. 

 It is well known that hereditary disease can be transmitted by 

 suckling. A mother suffering from syphilitic disease can infect 

 the healthy child of another woman, if she suckles it. This danger 

 is perhaps the most prominent difficulty in connection with wet- 

 nursing. It is sometimes almost impossible to be certain that 

 the wet-nurse is free from this disease, and the first positive informa- 

 tion upon this matter may arise from 1 the occurrence of the disease 

 in the child she has suckled. In order td avoid this danger, it 

 is not uncommon in countries where wet-nurses are extensively 

 used in institutions and among the richer classes, to instruct the 

 wet-nurse to express from the breast any milk for other children 

 beside her own child. This milk is then boiled before being used. 

 Boiling removes the danger of the transmission of the disease, but 

 the possible loss of nutritive value by this procedure must be 

 taken into consideration. Very few detailed investigations are 

 available upon this point, and in such cases as have been published 

 the data are not sufficiently extensive for any precise decision to 

 be arrived at. In actual practice the procedure has been com- 

 paratively frequently carried out, and although no precise statistics 

 are available upon the subject, it is generally believed by those 

 who have had most experience upon this matter, that little, if any, 

 impairment of nutritive value is produced by boiling the milk. 



Cows' Milk. The problem of the nutritive value of boiled cows' 

 milk as a food for calves is one of practical importance to the agricul- 

 turist. It is of special importance in those countries where the 

 sale of tuberculous milk is universally prohibited and the pro- 



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