492         Use  of  Pepsin  Wine  in  Feeding  Infants.     1  i 
Nov.  1,  1872. 
"  And  when  we  reflect  that  the  digestive  organs  of  the  human  in- 
fant are  found  to  digest  human  milk,  and  the  force  of  its  gastric  juice 
proportioned  to  the  solution  of  its  soft  flocculent  coagulum,  we  can 
understand  why  the  solvent  power  of  its  gastric  juice  is  sometimes  un- 
equal to  redigesting  the  firm  curd  of  cow's  milk.  When  such  is  the 
case,  acetous  fermentation  is  quickly  set  up,  offensive  gases  distend 
the  stomach  and  taint  the  breath,  vomiting  and  diarrhoea  set  in,  and 
in  process  of  time  the  little  patient  sinks  into  a  miserable  state  of  ma- 
rasmus, and  dies. 
"  The  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  is  simple,  for  although  we 
cannot  change  the  elementary  composition  of  the  milk  we  have  to  use, 
we  can  introduce  into  the  infant's  stomach  a  digestive  power  propor- 
tioned to  the  food  it  has  to  use — the  organic  principle  of  digestion 
taken  from  the  stomach  of  the  calf. 
"  It  is  now  many  years  since  I  first  applied  this  simple  theory  to 
practice  in  the  case  of  one  of  my  own  children,  who,  when  about  three 
or  four  months  old,  was  reduced  to  a  condition  of  marasmus  by  vom- 
iting and  diarrhoea,  due  to  imperfect  digestion  of  cow's  milk.  I  or- 
dered fifteen  or  twenty  drops  of  pepsin  wine,  to  be  given  immediately 
before  or  after  each  meal.  Soon  after  commencing  it  he  began  to 
improve,  and  by  degrees  all  bad  symptoms  vanished,  and  nutrition 
was  quite  restored.  The  pepsin  was  continued  until  he  was  nearly 
two  years  old,  and  he  thrived  at  least  as  well  as  if  he  had  been  wet 
nursed ;  other  treatment  of  course  preceded  and  accompanied  the  use 
of  the  pepsin,  but  it  was  not  until  the  latter  was  commenced  that  im- 
provement took  place. 
"  Shortly  after,  a  child  born  in  England,  and  bottle-fed,  was 
brought  over  to  this  country  when  about  six  months  old ;  he  also  was 
suffering  from  infantile  dyspepsia,  and  was  pining  away  in  a  listless, 
apathetic  state,  quite  indifferent  to  surrounding  objects,  and  appear- 
ing as  if  he  would  lapse  into  idiocy  from  mal-nutrition  of  the  nervous 
•centres. 
"I  immediately  ordered  him  pepsin  wine,  which  produced  such 
beneficial  effects  that  after  it  had  been  continued  about  twelve  months, 
he  had  become  a  bright,  intelligent,  well  nourished  child. 
"  Since  then  I  have  never  recommended  a  wet  nurse,  and  have  used 
pepsin  wine  largely  in  dispensary,  hospital,  and  private  practice,  and 
have  seen  many  apparently  hopeless  cases  recover  under  its  use." — 
Virg.  Clin.  Bee,  Sept.,  from  Dublin  Journal  of  Medical  Science. 
