THE COMPOSITION OF HORLICK'S MALTED MILK. 



By Geokge F. Richsiokd and W. E. Musgkave. 

 {From the Chemical and Biological Laboratories, Bureau of Science.) 



Since the publication of our monograph ^ on "Infant Feeding and its 

 Influence upon Infant Mortality in the Philippine Islands" our attention 

 has been directed to errors in the quoted analysis of Horlick's malted 

 milk given on pages 375 and 378 and also our observation on page 374 

 that the greatest objection to malted milks as infant foods lies in the 

 large amount of insoluble carbohydrates which they contain. The anal- 

 ysis of Horlick's malted milk therein quoted was taken from Chapin ^ 

 who in turn quotes McGill,^ who reported upon 103 samples representing 

 23 different brands of infant and invalid foods as found on the Canadian 

 market. His results upon the malted milk in question are the mean of 

 nine separate analyses made by himself and others and are as follows : 



Per cent. 



Moisture 2.55 



Fat by petroleum ether 1.41 



Loss to alcohol and water 63.87 



Total albuminoids NX 6.25 14.00 



Starch fiber, ash, etc., by diflfereiice . 15.68 



Ash 3.57 



The manufacturers- of Horlick's malted milk maintain, first, that the 

 percentage of fat, 1.41, as quoted is grossly in error and refer to analyses 

 by Smith * who found over six times as much, namely, 8.75 per cent, 

 Chittenden ^ who encountered at least 8 per cent, and to European work- 

 ers, including the British Analytical Control and the Glasgow Corpo- 

 ration, who reported 8.85 and 8.8 per cent respectively; second, that the 

 proteid content, 14 per cent, as found by McGill is also below the true 

 value of 16 to 17 per cent claimed and based upon the analyses covered 

 by the above references ; third, that 0.05 per cent represents more nearly 

 the true content of insoluble carbohydrates in their product. Manifestly 



"^This Jour. Sec. B (1907), 2, 4. 

 ■ -Theory and Practice of Infant Feeding, 2d ed. 1904. 

 ^ Bull. 59, Laby. Int. Rev. Dept., Canada. 

 * Holt on Infancy and Childhood, 1902. 



° Dietetic and Hygiene Gasette, 1896. <7 



87 



