TBE BELATIONS OF FOOD TO HEALTH. 81 where it got its dreadful disposition, but scorns the thought that lager or coffee can be irritants, or that the baby stomach requires but one food, and that one the uni- versal food of all young animal life, — milk. Take, then, our typical baby, lying fresh and sweet in the well aired and hghted room we suppose to be his birthright. The bones are still soft, the tender flesh and skin with little or no power of resistance. Muscles, nerves, all the wonderful tissues, are in process of forma- tion ; and in the strange growth and development of this most helpless yet most precious of all God's creations, there are certain elements which must be had, — phos- phates to harden the delicate bones ; nitrogen for flesh, which is only developed muscle; carbon,— or sugar and fat, which represent carbon,— for the whole wonderful course of respiration and circulation. Water, too, must be in abundance to fill the tiny stomach, which in the beginning can hold but a spoonful ; and to float the blood- corpuscles through the winding channels whose mysteries, even now, no man has fully penetrated. Caseine, which is the solid, nourishing, cheesy part of milk, and abounds in nitrogen, is also needed ; and all the salts and alkalies that we have found to be necessary in forming perfect blood. Let us see if milk will meet these wants. COMPOSITION OF COW'S MILK. (Supposed to contain 1,000 parts.) Water 8]^-2 Caseine ^'^ Butter ^^-^ Sugar _^ Carried forward » • ^^'^•^ 6 82 THE RELATIONS OF FOOD TO HEALTH. Brought forward 9940 Soda Chloride of sodium and potassium Phospliate of soda and potassa Phosphate of lime J- . . . 6.0 Magnesia Iron Alkaline carbonates 1,000.0 Mother's milk being nearly the same, having only a larger proportion of water, will for the first year of our baby's life meet every demand the system can make. Even the first teeth are no sign, as ignorant mothers believe, that the stomach calls for stronger food. They are known, with reason, as milk-teeth, and the grinders delay their appearance for months afterward. A little oatmeal, bread and milk, and various porridges, come in here, that the bones may harden more rapidly ; but that is all. The baby is in constant motion ; and eyes and ears are taking in the mysteries of the new life, and busy hands testing properties, and little feet walking into mischief, all day. This is hardly the place to dwell upon the amount of knowledge acquired from birth to five years of age ; yet when you consider how the mind is reaching in every direction, appropriating, investigating, drawing conclu- sions which are the foundation of all our after-knowledge, you will see that the brain is working with an intensity never afterwards equaled ; and, as brain- work means ac- tual destruction of brain-fiber, how vital it is that food should be furnished in the right ratio, and made up of the right elements ! With the coming of the grinders, and the call of the THE RELATIONS OF FOOD TO HEALTH. 83 muscles and tissues for stronger food, begins the necessit}^ for a more varied dietary. Our baby now, from two and a half to seven years of age, will require daily : — Bread, not less than 12 ounces. Butter 1 ounce. Milk i pint. Meat . . . ^ 2 ounces. Vegetables . . * 6 ounces. Pudding or gruel 6 ounces.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

where it got its dreadful disposition, but scorns the thought that lager or coffee can be irritants, or that the baby stomach requires but one food, and that one the universal food of all young animal life, — milk. Take, then, our typical baby, lying fresh and sweet in the well aired and lighted room we suppose to be his birthright. The bones are still soft, the tender flesh and skin with little or no power of resistance. Muscles, nerves, all the wonderful tissues, are in process of formation ; and in the strange growth and development of this most helpless yet most precious of all God's creations, there are certain elements which must be had, — phosphates to harden the delicate bones ; nitrogen for flesh, which is only developed muscle; carbon,— or sugar and fat, which represent carbon,— for the whole wonderful course of respiration and circulation. Water, too, must be in abundance to fill the tiny stomach, which in the beginning can hold but a spoonful ; and to float the bloodcorpuscles through the winding channels whose mysteries, even now, no man has fully penetrated. Caseine, which is the solid, nourishing, cheesy part of milk, and abounds in nitrogen, is also needed ; and all the salts and alkalies that we have found to be necessary in forming perfect blood. Let us see if milk will meet these wants. COMPOSITION OF COW'S MILK. (Supposed to contain 1,000 parts.) Water 8]^-2 Caseine ^'^ Butter ^^-^ Sugar _^ Carried forward » • ^^'^•^ Brought forward 9940 Soda Chloride of sodium and potassium Phosphate of soda and potassa Phosphate of lime J- . . . 6.0 Magnesia Iron Alkaline carbonates 1,000.0 Mother's milk being nearly the same, having only a larger proportion of water, will for the first year of our baby's life meet every demand the system can make. Even the first teeth are no sign, as ignorant mothers believe, that the stomach calls for stronger food. They are known, with reason, as milk-teeth, and the grinders delay their appearance for months afterward. A little oatmeal, bread and milk, and various porridges, come in here, that the bones may harden more rapidly ; but that is all. The baby is in constant motion ; and eyes and ears are taking in the mysteries of the new life, and busy hands testing properties, and little feet walking into mischief, all day. This is hardly the place to dwell upon the amount of knowledge acquired from birth to five years of age ; yet when you consider how the mind is reaching in every direction, appropriating, investigating, drawing conclusions which are the foundation of all our after-knowledge, you will see that the brain is working with an intensity never afterwards equaled ; and, as brain- work means actual destruction of brain-fiber, how vital it is that food should be furnished in the right ratio, and made up of the right elements ! With the coming of the grinders, and the call of the muscles and tissues for stronger food, begins the necessit}^ for a more varied dietary. Our baby now, from two and a half to seven years of age, will require daily : — Bread, not less than 12 ounces. Butter 1 ounce. Milk i pint. Meat . . . ^ 2 ounces. Vegetables . . * 6 ounces. Pudding or gruel 6 ounces.

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