WHY cow's MILK? 77 



followers, milk modification has reached its highest 

 development thus far. The leadership of American 

 physicians upon this question is universally recognized 

 outside of France. Indeed, the science of the whole 

 milk question is very much further advanced in 

 America than in any other country, however back- 

 ward we may be in the practical application of scien- 

 tific knowledge to our milk supply. We are not, 

 after all, a very practical people, much as we love to 

 hug the delusion that we are. Social science is 

 nowhere making the progress that it is making in 

 America to-day, Germany having lost its leadership 

 long since. But the practical application of that 

 science, actual social experiment, is neglected here 

 as nowhere among the great nations. 



Percentage-feeding is in reality a highly indi- 

 vidualized system of milk modification. Starting 

 from the idea that the mother's milk is immeasurably 

 superior to any other food for an infant, percentage- 

 feeding is an attempt to so modify cow's milk that 

 it will approximate mother's milk in its composition. 

 Under the old haphazard methods, when it was found 

 that undiluted cow's milk could not be properly 

 digested by the infant, it was simply diluted until 

 it "seemed to suit the stomach" of the child. It was 

 not understood that it was the excess of protein in 

 the milk, intended by Nature for a very different 

 organism, which caused the indigestion, nor that in 



