| Water | 93.31 |
| Nitrogenous matter | 0.82 |
| Fat or butter | 0.24 |
| Sugar of milk | 4.98 |
| Fixed salt | 0.65 |
When the whey is the product of soured milk, 0.33 or more of lactic acid is to be added to this analysis, and the same amount deducted from the sugar of milk. Essence of pepsin will curd lukewarm milk, not warmer than can be agreeably borne by the mouth; a temperature higher than one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit destroys the curdling principle of the pepsin. The quantity of essence of pepsin to be used to the pint of milk depends on the strength of the preparation; usually a teaspoonful or two is added and stirred just enough to mix; let it stand till firmly curded, then beat up with a fork until the curd is finely divided; now strain and the whey is ready for use; it should be sweetened a little; sugar of milk, if pure, would be the best, otherwise white cane sugar may be used. A newborn babe will require a tablespoonful to begin with, every two hours, always slightly warmed. It is particularly essential to keep everything clean, especially the tube and nipple; these are to be brushed and cleaned after each meal, and then laid on a clean dry plate for future use; the nursing bottle too must be rinsed and drained. The prevalent custom of keeping the tube, nipple and bottle in water after they are washed is a bad one, for to have them sweet and pure they should be allowed to dry out between times.
Condensed milk is often a valuable substitute for fresh cow’s milk; its utility, is probably due to the employment of heat in its manufacture, which destroys the germs or spores that find their way into all milk, and to the scalding of the casein which modifies its physical character so that it no longer curds into large lumps when in the stomach, but into smaller flakes. There are different brands in the market, and even the best of them may be too old and shop worn; they then become thick and dark in which condition they are no longer fit for infants’ food. The Eagle and Anglo-Swiss are among the best varieties; others contain too much sugar, while some are adulterated with starch or flour. A heaping teaspoonful of condensed milk to a teacupful of warm water, previously boiled, is the average strength, although better results are obtained when a thin gruel of corn starch or arrowroot is employed instead of plain water; when the child grows older cracked or rolled oats or graham flour may be substituted for the arrowroot. The gruel is prepared in the following manner: take half a teacupful of oatmeal or graham flour, saturate first with cold water, then stir slowly into three pints of boiling water; add a pinch of salt and boil over a slow fire for three-quarters of an hour, stirring constantly so that it will not scorch on the bottom; then strain, and if it has boiled down to less than a quart of gruel, add a sufficient quantity of boiling water through the strainer to make it measure a quart.
The gruel is to be prepared fresh every morning, and the above quantity will last about twenty-four hours. It should be kept in a porcelain or glass pitcher covered with a napkin, and set aside in a clean cool place. At regular mealtimes take out the required quantity, warm in a little agate saucepan, kept only for this purpose, and when warmed add the condensed milk, stirring until it is dissolved. This makes a fine cream-like food, agreeable to take and very nourishing if well borne by the stomach. The stools may become too loose at times from the oat or wheaten gruel, then this gruel should at once be changed for that of corn starch or arrowroot until the bowels are regulated again, and when that is done it may be advisable to return to the oatmeal or cracked wheat. The exercise of a little judgment and close observation in feeding a child will contribute greatly to its well-being; any diarrhœa or disturbance of the digestion must at once receive prompt attention and this can often be accomplished by change of food; to allow these disorders to run for any length of time is to invite serious consequences.
Adults or grown persons have also their share of stomach troubles; as a rule they eat too much, too fast and do not masticate their food sufficiently. It is not so much what a person eats, but how he eats, not so much quality as quantity.
After an exclusive dietary of milk dyspeptics should gradually return to a mixed diet, that is a regular dinner once a day; but eat slowly and masticate thoroughly; thus one eats rarely if ever too much. When the food is bolted, it makes little or no impression on the nerves of taste, nor does it appease the sense of hunger, and the only indication of satiety is a feeling of fullness.
As to the time of taking one’s dinner that depends altogether on the occupation and habits of the individual. In dyspeptics in whom the digestion is slow and the circulation sluggish the principal meal or dinner should be eaten at noon; this gives opportunity to move about, stimulating the circulation, hence increasing the absorption to its highest point. If a man eats his dinner in the evening and afterwards goes out into society or attends amusements the late dinner is not objectionable. But if a person is worn and tired out at supper and then eats a hearty meal, and lounges around the room the remainder of the evening, reading the newspaper or otherwise inactive, he is quite likely to feel distress from what he ate, and sure to experience occasional bilious spells; nightmare disturbs his sleep and he awakes in the morning unrefreshed, languid and dull. It is better for such persons to eat their dinner at noon, and retire early on a very light supper.
Beef tea became very popular at one time as a nourishment for the sick, and there can be no doubt that many patients who were stricken down with different acute diseases slipped into their graves, because beef tea was relied upon with a belief that it was a sufficient nourishment. Observation and careful researches on the subject have proved conclusively that the nutritive value of beef tea as ordinarily prepared, that is chopped beef put into a bottle and boiled in a water bath for three or four hours, has been greatly exaggerated. The process of boiling the beef has no other effect than that of drawing out the watery substance of the meat. The phosphatic salts that are contained in the meat are also extracted with the serum which holds them in solution. The natural albuminoids (musculine) which constitute the real nutritive element of beef are congealed and surrounded by the fibrous tissue—that part which snarls up and renders the beef gristly and tough. Yet as a nutritive stimulant, beef tea possesses at times considerable value; it is an excellent vehicle sometimes, for instance an egg thoroughly beaten and added to a cupful of warm beef tea is a desirable form of liquid food for invalids.
Eggs constitute a highly nitrogenized food and their nutritive value is even greater than that of stall-fed beef. The subjoined tables of chemical analysis give the definite quantity of each constituent that is contained in one hundred parts of egg and beef: