SUMMARY OF CHAPTER XI 



CLINICAL DATA ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF RAW AND BOILED 

 COWS' MILK AS A FOOD FOR INFANTS 



IT is difficult to obtain the necessary data for an accurate con- 

 sideration of the subject of this chapter, from the records of hospitals 

 for sick children. Until recently, however, this was the only 

 means available. The hospital patient is hardly suitable for the 

 purpose of investigating the nutritive properties of any special 

 food. The sick child is liable to react, and probably does react, 

 differently from the normal child to a large number of food-stuffs. 

 Sick children are not here under consideration, but rather the 

 average, reasonably healthy infant. If hospital cases alone are 

 considered, therefore, there will be a tendency to error which cannot 

 be regarded as negligible. Moreover, hospital cases are naturally 

 unsuited for a prolonged investigation of the nutritive value of 

 any kind of food. At the time of admission they are for the most 

 part in a pathological state and require special measures in order 

 to enable them to improve. As soon as such improvement has 

 begun, it is more than probable that the physician considers it 

 desirable to alter the dietary of the child. This, although clearly 

 necessary as a curative measure, cannot be regarded as other 

 than an impairment of the data from the experimental point of 

 view. In addition to the probability of the dietary being altered 

 every few days, the child is sent back to its home, and away from 

 skilled observation, at the earliest possible moment. 



Consequently observations made in hospitals upon the nutritive 

 value of raw and boiled milk for infants have for the most part 

 been confined to pathological cases, and have extended over 

 short periods only. It is not possible to deduce from them what 

 the ultimate effect upon the child of either method of feeding 

 may be. 



One defect of observations carried out in hospitals has already 

 been briefly alluded to in the preceding chapter. It was there 

 pointed out that physicians tend to use one form of feeding for the 

 majority of their cases who are in a reasonably healthy condition. 

 This will vary according to the individual predilection of the 



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