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BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



are largely wanting on the subject, but we have reason to 

 believe that the figures obtained from Berlin, Germany, are 

 accurate for their conditions, and apjiroximately so for ours. 

 In the following table we note the death rate per thousand of 

 infants fed on different foods : — 



Table 1. — German Statistics, showing the Death Rate per Thousand 

 fed on Various Foods. 



Fed (111 motlier's milk, 7.4 



Fed on mother's and cow's milk, ...... 21.4 



Fed on cow's milk, 42.1 



Fed on milk substitutes, 67.7 



Fed on cow's milk and substitutes, ...... 125.7 



From the above we note that where 1 child dies which is 

 being breast fed, there arc nearly G when fed on cow's milk. 

 In some places, most notably in our large cities, the death 

 rate among bottle-fed babies is ten times that among breast- 

 fed. This in itself would indicate either that the cow's milk 

 is not adapted to the human infant, or that there is a great 

 fault somewhere in the handling of the cow's milk. In com- 

 paring the composition of human versus cow's milk, we 

 notice that they differ principally in the following points: 

 the fat in the cow's milk is about 30 to 40 per cent higher 

 than in human ; sugar in human milk is nearly twice as high 

 as that in cow's; the protein content of cow's milk is more 

 than three times that of human; the nutritive ratio in the 

 case of the cow is approximately 1 :4, and approximately 

 1:8 in the human, with an acid reaction in the cow's milk 

 and an alkaline reaction in the human, as indicated in the 

 following table : — 



Table 2. — A Comparison of the Tivo Milks, showing their Average 

 Relative Component Parts on a Chemical Basis {Per Cent). 



