MILK FOE INFANTS 153 



Many special preparations similar to the above have 

 been used abroad and have received the approval of 

 podiatrists. In Denmark, however, they are used but 

 little and they will never have a very broad field on ac- 

 count of their high price. 



In France, asses' milk is quite commonly used as a 

 substitute for human milk and in Dresden an establish- 

 ment has been started for the production of asses ' milk, 

 which is desired partly because of its great similarity to 

 human milk and partly because of its favorable effect 

 in indigestion of children. On account of the small milk 

 yield of the donkey, this milk is much too expensive to be 

 used generally. For the same reason, mare's milk has 

 been used in some places, but only to a limited extent. 



Goat's milk has been suggested as food for infants, 

 and large herds of goats have been maintained in some 

 places for this purpose — principally on account of fear 

 of tuberculous infection from cow's milk. The prevalent 

 opinion of the infrequency of tuberculosis in goats is 

 untenable, since they are very easily infected and may 

 suffer, just as cows do, with udder tuberculosis. There- 

 fore, there is no reason to prefer goat's milk to cow's 

 milk. 



In by far the majority of cases in which the mother 

 has not enough milk, or her child will not nurse, cow's 

 milk is used as a substitute. The question has often been 

 discussed as to whether and, if so, what special require- 

 ments should be made for milk intended for infants, and 

 different answers are given. It was formerly thought 

 that the composition of the cow's food had a marked 

 influence on the chemical composition of her milk, and 

 upon its character, and on account of this opinion it was 

 formerly required in Germany that cows kept for this 

 purpose must be fed nothing but dry food the entire 

 year. The price of such milk has been considerably in- 



