The avoidable causes of disease, insanity, and deformity : a book for the people as well as the profession / by John Ellis.

  • Ellis, John, 1815-1896.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The avoidable causes of disease, insanity, and deformity : a book for the people as well as the profession / by John Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    four months, if it can well be avoided. Cow's milk should be slightly alkaline, but it sometimes occurs, especially when the cow has been milked several months, that it is slightly acid, in which case it is very apt to disagree with children. Then in se- lecting a cow from which to obtain milk, for an infant, it is al- ways well to test the milk by the means of blue litmus-paper. Hold the end of a narrow strip of this paper in fresh milk, for a short time, and if it changes it to a red color, the milk is acid, and not suitable to use for a young child, but another cow should be selected. Good milk will change red litmus-paper to blue, after some minutes contact. Litmus-paper can be found at the drug- gists. If milk which is being used disagrees with a child, or causes disturbance of the stomach and bowels, it should be re- jected and the milk from another cow tried, but test the milk, as above directed, before trying it. For an infant it is important to use the milk which is first drawn, as it is much weaker than the last which is obtained, and will not require diluting with water, which may impair its quality. The first-drawn milk need not be diluted, but should be sweetened a little by sugar of milk, or in case that is not at hand, a little white sugar. Milk which has been boiled is not as easily digested as unboiled milk, and it is generally better only to heat it to the right temperature for drinking, and it is best that this should be done in a water-bath —that is by setting the dish containing the milk into a vessel of boiling or hot water. It would be better still, were it generally practicable, to give milk directly from the cow, while still warm, if it does not seem to be displeasing to the infant. As the child becomes two or three months old, it will not be necessary, or in fact best, if it is well, to confine it to the first drawn milk, but milk the whole together and feed from that. In case of delicate or sickly children, it is well to look to the cow's food, as it may affect the milk for good or evil. Ordinary fodder produces milk of ordinary quality. It is said that, carrots pro- duce the lightest milk, and the most easily digestible ; the one, in fact, best suited for the milk of sick children. Beets, on the contrary, produce the most substantial and richest milk. (Dr. Donne.)