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 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 870.2
Caseine 44.
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