Finally, we must not forget the force of habit. The inhabitants of the States are composed of all races and nationalities, some of which, like the Teutons. are great meat eaters whilst the yellow race lives principally on carbohydrates, and between these two extremes we find all grades and variations, and we naturally cannot expect the stomach and intestine of the children of one race, who by inheritance have been trained for one kind of diet, to thrive on one that is materially different, and we know through the investigations of Pawlow that we must take into account geographical and racial differences and even local tastes.
Number of Meals.—There is a great difference of opinion about the question of how many meals we should give a child, or into how many and how large parts we should divitl its daily allowance. In most parts of Germany five meals are given, the heaviest one of which is the mid day meal. In the northern part of Germany. as well as in England and the United States, the principal meal is usually the last one in the evening, and we do not know of any valid objections to this as long as the children are not put to bed right after their dinner; with small children it is, however. the rule everywhere to give the dinner at noon. Camerer found that when five meals are given daily that the mid-day and evening meals were nearly equivalent; our own experience teaches us that usually the mid-day meal is the heaviest and our little charges in Diisseldorf of their five meals get on an average: Though it is customary in Germany to have five meals, the American custom of giving not more than three meals is not only practicable but preferable. Czerny and Keller are also adherents of the three-meal system. We must not forget how hard it is to break with traditions and the four o'clock tea which comes so soon after the mid-dav meal and so close before the evening meal, and is therefore the least desirable, seems to be the hardest to abolish.
It depends upon circumstances when we should begin to give three meals only. Nursing infants, who have been brought up on four daily feedings will get along nicely on this number of meals afterwards. When an infant has been fed five or six times daily, we will give five meals during the second year, during the third year we will leave out the after noon meal and in the fourth and fifth years the second breakfast; the amounts given at these two meals we may safely add to the breakfast and supper and the child will get one-fourth of its daily ration each at breakfast and supper and one-half at dinner. This system will succeed in giving many a child a better appetite, i.e., will make it eat more. but
we must not forget that some individuals, adults as well as children, have an actual want for more frequent meals and in these cases we have to individualize and to allow them four to five meals daily. But we must strenuously resent the bad habit of many parents who continuously give the children something between meals, he it sweets or milk, unlimited consumption of which they consider quite harmless or even beneficial. To keep the body in prime condition on three meals a day, we consider the ideal physical education.
Let us consider the differences in feeding necessitated by the dif ferent stages of childhood.
During the Second Year of Life.--Milk is still the principal diet and the demand for nitrogen is supplied by the proteid of the milk, with the exception of a small amount from vegetable proteid. Wheat flour, farina, rice, oats and barley are the favorite cereals. and the large demand for mineral matter makes necessary a liberal addition of tender young (freen vegetables and raw as well as cooked fruit.
The feeding of green vegetables in the first and second years of life, was introduced only a few years ago by Lahmann, who, for some reason Or never given the credit for t his. The old-fashioned gruel and broth feeding has now quite generally been given up.
Of the fresh vegetables, we prefer for this age spinach, carrots, let tuce and potatoes, also Spanish chestnuts: of fruit, tipples, pears and especially bananas. By mixing mashed potatoes together with carrots, spinach or cooked lettuce, we have a nice way of increasing the food value of the dinner. Bananas may be used either as Vegetable or as fruit, and they have thus been proved a valuable whlition to the child's diet. (See recipes 31 and :32, p. 171.) In practice it is advisable to warn mothers when we begin giving spinach, that this is not entirely digested but only extracted, and that undigested particles will be found in the stools. We must never forget that in cooking any vegetable part of its mineral matter \•i11 remain in the water in which it is cooked. Hensel found, for instance, of the iron contained in spinach 20 per cent. was foam! in the water, and of lettuce more than :30 per cent. Since we began to realize the importance of the mineral matter we insist that vegetables and fruit are washed in cold water and the juice is not thrown away but boiled down and used for straining. (See recipe for spinach, p. 1119.) In the tables on pages 475 and 477. will be found the composition of vegetables and their content of mineral matter.