MILK - LABORATORIES. — There have been established in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and several other cities laboratories where it is possible to ob tain milk in which the separate ingredi ents are present in definite percentages. These Walker-Gordon laboratories per form the same service in the preparation of milk that the apothecary does in the dispensing of drugs. They put up what is technically known as "modified milk" according to prescription, ancl will fur ther sterilize or pasteurize the food if desired. In ordering the milk, the phy sician simply specifies the percentages of fat, sugar, and proteids which he wishes his patient to have, together with the quantity for each feeding and the number of feedings in twenty-four hours; also the amount of lime-water, and whether the food is to be sterilized, pasteurized, or delivered raw. The lab oratory company sends each day's sup ply every morning, delivering the food in the bottles from which it is to be fed. The advantages of the laboratory- method are many, as the physician can vary the proportions from day to day, and feel sure that his directions are carried out.
The only objections are the expense and the fact that these laboratories are as yet established in only the larger cities. 44 . ilk is theoretically the !.• , • r e‘t -tibst it ute for normal • d ills, but personal experience, • Ntr. fails to support the theory. In e La-es it roved satisfactory; in rs artially satisfactory, and showed f um, of malnutrition; hut in the ..7n.-t,r number unsatisfactory, and it be l.11 solutely necessary to discontinue flit. lab( ra tory feeding, owing to the tic , io rein e of acute dietetic disorders. In 1..1( rnt, ry milk the proteids are present in a form that makes them difficult of di2k-tion. due to the destruction of the natural t. mulsiort in the process of mixing a st pirated milk and a eentrifugated irt am. Louis Starr (Archives of Pediat rics. Jan., 1900).