Congenital Infections of Calves 675 



absorbed which are toxic for the body and imperil health 

 and life. Presumably there is no material difference in the 

 amount of digestive ferments poured out in response to the 

 presence of a small or a large volume of food. Consequently 

 it should be expected that, within reasonable limits, the 

 smaller the amount of milk fed, the greater the ratio of 

 digestive ferments to the volume of milk, and hence the 

 prompter and more certain the digestion; conversely the 

 greater the volume of milk, the lower the ratio of digestive 

 ferments and the greater the danger of bacteria attaining 

 the upper hand and displacing digestion by bacterial de- 

 composition. Clinically this conception holds true and there 

 is no more important lesson to be learned in connection with 

 the growing of calves (or other young) than that feeding 

 more milk than can or will be digested promptly is a peril to 

 health and life. All that milk which the digestive ferments 

 fail to prepare for assimilation and utilization by the body 

 for its food is broken down by the bacteria and causes harm. 

 I consider it highly important that the milk fed to dairy 

 calves, after they are about ten days old,' be boiled. It is 

 virtually always mixed milk coming from a large number of 

 cows. Often when there is a bad udder or a cow has 

 aborted or had retained afterbirth, the milk is fed to calves. 

 Such milk is often badly contaminated with infectious dis- 

 charges from the uterus which have flowed down the tail and 

 thighs. It is safe when boiled, but otherwise unsafe. The 

 same is generally true of mixed raw milk. It contains all 

 infections reaching the milk of any cow, so that the danger 

 is multiplied by the number of cows contributing to the 

 ration of milk fed. There has been much interesting 

 controversy regarding the comparative virtues of raw and 

 cooked milk. I consider that it has been proven beyond 

 dispute that raw milk is in itself a safer food for calves for 

 a few days after birth than cooked milk. Various explana- 

 tions have been given. Some have said that the essential 

 salts of the milk are rendered non-assimilable by cooking. 

 Others have claimed the change is in the fat, casein, or other 

 constituent. Recently it has been positively asserted that 



