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270 STATE AGRICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
LIEBIG’S AKTIFIOIAL MILK FOR CHILDREN-. 
From the Official Report of 
W. E. JOHNSTON, M. D., 
Commissioner to the Paris Exposition, 1867. 
This new important compound, invented by the learned 
German chemist, is not on exhibition, only because it does not 
preserve well. It has nevertheless been discussed on the out¬ 
side as one of the new ideas which takes its place in the grand 
competition of the Champ de Mars, and therefore naturally 
forms a part of this report. In this compound Professor 
Liebig pretends to have found a chemical substitute for 
mother’s milk; his analyth^al mind, and his profound knowl¬ 
edge of chemistry, are in some sort a guarantee of its per¬ 
fection. 
But most persons will call to mind the discussion provoked 
by this imitated milk in the learned academies of Paris, and 
the condemnations that were passedyipon it. The weighty 
name of Liebig, and the natural desire of men of science to 
add a new element of life and comfort to those already known, 
were powerful stimulants towards an unreserved acceptation 
of the new compound. The astounding developments of 
mortality among children in France, lately made to the Acad¬ 
emy of Medicine of Paris, a mortality which reached the 
frightful figure .of 90 per cent, in certain communes, made 
men turn their eyes eagerly in every direction for new aids in 
arresting the destruction. So that in this apparently insignifi¬ 
cant question of infantile food we see a grave question of hu¬ 
manity and political ecomomy, for the increase or decrease of 
population is a question of primary importance to both states¬ 
men and philanthropists. As communities grow older and 
become more compact the number of children to be fed by 
