144 Heredity and Child Culture 



curdling milk into a stomach intended and 

 adapted for soft, flocculent curds. This is the 

 cause of much indigestion and such substitu- 

 tion fails to carry out one of the functions that 

 milk was intended to perform in the scheme of 

 evolution, — namely, in each species to specially 

 develop certain parts of the gastro-intestinal 

 tract that must later on perform most of the 

 work of digestion. 



Every effort should be made to have the 

 mother nurse her infant, especially during the 

 first months. If this were done, there would 

 not only be a distinct lowering of infant mor- 

 tality but a more vigorous life would be insured. 

 It is only necessary to note here that while 

 the general infant mortality has been largely 

 reduced, that occurring during the first month 

 of life has not yet been lowered. Since milk is 

 the only food that supplies all the ingredients 

 required in the building up of bones, muscles 

 and other tissues, and in the proportions and 

 conditions required by each species, the natural 

 milk is best supplied to the baby by its own 



