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22
This is essential for more than one reason. It must be clearly
realised that human milk is not only the best food, but that no other
milk can be made into a perfect food for infants. In infant feeding,
nature is superior to art, and any artificial food should approximate
as closely as possible to this ideal. The milk of any species
of animal is a highly specialized product, specialized mechanically,
chemically and physiologically to suit the digestive system, nutrition,
rate of growth, and mode of life of the animals of that species, and
it cannot with impunity be displaced by a foreign milk. The so
called " humanized " milk, is not humanized in the true sense of
the term. It is true that other milks can be modified so as to resemble
in chemical composition human milk, but milk is not an
inert liquid, depending for its nutritious qualities on the chemical
substances it contains ; it is a living liquid with important biological
properties. A discussion of these properties would introduce
subjects of too technical a character for a report of this kind, but one
aspect of the question may be mentioned. There is evidence that
human milk contains substances derived from the mother, and
that these substances carried by the milk into the infant's body
protect it from the attacks of disease-producing bacteria. These
facts are in accord with clinical experience. It is extremely rare
for infants on the breast to suffer from Measles, Scarlet Fever, or
any of the infectious diseases.
These observations are made not for the purpose of discouraging
any improvement in the conditions under which children are being
artificially fed, but in order to show that extreme care is necessary
lest an inducement be given to mothers to wean their offspring
unnecessarily and prematurely. Premature weaning is a pathological
process, and always a regrettable event. Nevertheless,
it is often inevitable and Professor Bunge, of Basle, made an inquiry
into this subject, and found that only 519 women out of 1,912
were capable of nursing their offspring for nine months. Inquiry
into their family history showed that the daughter of a mother
who could not nurse her own children is also commonly incapable