No. 4.] CLEAN MILK. 51 



The differences as indicated above are quite readily over- 

 come by a method known as moditicatiou, which is simply the 

 addition of Avatei', milk sugar and lime water in such quanti- 

 ties as to establish in the modified cow's milk approximately 

 the conditions present in the human. 



Fat V. Cleanliness. — A study of the methods of modifica- 

 tion shows us that it is customary to start a child with a milk 

 in which there is about 2 per cent fat, and that gradually the 

 fat content is increased until the child, at five or six months 

 of age, is receiving milk containing about 4 per cent fat. Un- 

 doubtedly this fact is largely due to the popular notion that 

 fat is the most valuable ingredient of milk, and that milk has 

 value in proportion to its fat content, without any particular 

 reference to the other features. That this is a mistaken be- 

 lief is becoming known slowly, as w^e study more and more 

 closely the value of the other constituents of the milk and the 

 value of cleanliness. Experiments have been conducted to 

 show the value of rich milk versus half-skimmed milk as ani- 

 nuil food. These experiments bear out thoroughly the ex- 

 perience of our dairy stock breeders, namely, that rich milk, 

 that is, milk containing around 5 per cent fat, is not condu- 

 cive to highest bodily vigor; that milk containing practically 

 only half that amount will develop stronger, more robust and 

 thrifty animals, whether they be pigs or calves, than will milk 

 containing 5 per cent or more of fat ; and w^e have no reason 

 to doubt but that it is the same with children. In fact, wc 

 have many reasons for feeling that it is the same with chil- 

 dren. Xot infrequently in these tests have the pigs and 

 calves fed on rich milk died outright from acute indigestion, 

 diarrhoea or constipation, whereas their mates, on a less fat 

 milk, have grown vigorously and without internal troubles. 



The statement just nuide is not a " boost " for the IIol- 

 steins nor a " slam " on the Jerseys. It is a statement of 

 fact which every housewife and every physician should re- 

 member. Moreover, the stand taken by many of our city au- 

 thorities in regard to the fat content of milk, namely, that, 

 whether a cow gives a 5 per cent milk or a 3 per cent milk, 

 it must not be changed in any particular, is unwarranted. 



