vni, B, 6 Musgrave: Infant Mortality 461 



from their breasts food for one or more children, when their own 

 metabolisms are in a starved condition. When asked the direct 

 question as to the supply of foodstuffs, these mothers almost 

 invariably state that they have plenty to eat, and the pathetic 

 part of the story is that they believe that they are stating facts. 

 These abnormal premises are the result of a peculiar unexplain- 

 able psychology that is of very wide application in this country 

 that the administration of food is more to satisfy hunger than to 

 produce flesh and blood, and that the cheapest way in which 

 hunger may be satisfied produces a satisfactory form of exist- 

 ence. It has been stated repeatedly that Filipinos do not care 

 for foods other than fish and rice, with a few condiments and 

 vegetables, but investigation tends to show that this is not a fact, 

 and that these people have the same appetites and desire for fat 

 and heat-producing foods as have people of other countries. 



INFANT FEEDING 



Good 7nilk is the only satisfactory food during infancy- 

 Mothers' milk, under normal conditions, is the ideal food, and 

 next, because of its physiological adaptability and because it is 

 the only class of milk it is possible to produce in quantities suf- 

 ficient to meet the world's needs, is cows' milk. With the con- 

 ditions discussed above, showing the causes for deficiency in the 

 quantity of mothers' milk, together with the well-known fact 

 that fresh, clean, raw, cows' milk is not obtainable in large 

 quantities in the Philippine Islands, and that the prospect for 

 a sufl[icient local production seems very remote, there is shown 

 a new problem in infant feeding. 



In considering the physiological requirements for the produc- 

 tion of satisfactory baby food, it must be remembered that milk is 

 just as essential an article of diet for the nursing mother in cases 

 of breast feeding as it is for the baby in cases of artificial feeding, 

 and recommendations for the solution of our local problem must 

 bear this point in mind. The milk production of the Philippine 

 Islands is practically nil when considered in relation to the 

 requirements of the country. The principal supply consists of 

 carabaos' milk and goats' milk, with a few dairies located in the 

 larger cities, making a business of supplying cows' milk. We 

 have gone rather carefully into the question of the quality of these 

 milks, it being impossible in the time allowed to do anything 

 regarding the correct estimation of the quantity produced. 

 Nor is this necessary, because investigation of the quality leads 

 to but one conclusion, and that is that practically all fresh milk 

 produced in this country is dangerous to health, in whatever man- 



