Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
August,  1899.  / 
Artificial  Foods. 
387 
Having  taken  up  the  question  of  foods  in  general,  theii\compo- 
sition,  the  importance,  specific  uses  and  the  relative  value  of  the 
five  ingredients,  proteids,  fats,  carbohydrates,  minerals  and  water,  let 
us  consider  the  various  forms  of  artificial  foods  on  the  market,  re- 
membering that  they  are  valuable  only  as  they  supply  the  above 
essentials  in  the  requisite  proportions,  in  a  form  physiologically 
capable  of  digestion  and  sufficiently  palatable  to  be  eaten. 
The  first  substitute  that  is  naturally  employed  for  this  purpose, 
because  of  its  similarity  to  human  milk,  and  its  accessibility,  is 
cow's  milk.  For  adults  it  can  be  used  fresh  and  without  dilution, 
and  is  employed  very  extensively  in  this  way,  but  for  infants  it  is 
generally  diluted  by  the  addition  of  two  parts  of  water  to  one  of 
milk. 
Theoretically  this  is  the  best  and  most  serviceable  substitute  that 
can  be  used,  and  for  this  reason  milk  laboratories  have  been  estab- 
lished in  the  large  cities  of  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  furnish- 
ing pure  sterilized,  modified  milk  of  any  desired  proportion  of 
casein,  cream  and  lactose.  The  milk  of  goats,  asses  and  mares  has 
been  employed  as  a  substitute  with  some  success,  but  owing  to 
practical  difficulties  can  never  have  any  very  extensive  use.  Cow's 
milk,  no  matter  how  carefully  modified  and  prepared,  cannot  be 
taken  by  all  children,  largely  on  account  of  the  following  facts : 
The  casein  is  present  in  a  much  greater  proportion  than  in  mother's 
milk,  is  not  nearly  as  digestible,  as  it  coagulates  in  heavy  masses 
instead  of  the  fine  flocculent  curd  of  human  milk.  It  is  deficient 
in  milk  sugar,  contains  many  bacteria,  including  some  pathogenic 
varieties,  is  acid  in  reaction,  whereas  human  milk  is  persistently 
alkaline,  and  is  open  to  the  two  practical  objections,  that  it  requires 
care  in  keeping,  and  trouble  in  modification  and  preparation. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  take  up  and  describe  each  different 
food  upon  the  market  in  detail,  and  do  justice  to  all,  so  for  purposes 
of  study  it  will  be  most  convenient  to  divide  them  into  general 
classes. 
The  points  which  it  will  be  worth  our  while  to  consider  can  best 
be  taken  up  under  the  heads  of  composition,  method  of  manu- 
facture, and  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  they  seem  to 
possess.  It  would  be  well  to  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  theories 
upon  which  the  composition  of  the  foods  of  commerce  is  based, 
although  necessary  to  their  existence  and  useful  for  advertising 
