Professor Budin introduced the method of feeding infants on sterilized milk, without dilution or addition. He was led to adopt this plan because in his experience infants fed on diluted milk were obliged to absorb great quantities of fluid which caused them to pass a large amount of urine, and because they were almost always crying from hunger. On the other hand he found the feeding was greatly simplified by using undiluted sterilized milk. During the first month of life it may be necessary to use a slight amount of dilution owing to the larger amount of casein or fat that may be present in cows' milk, but his custom has been to avoid dilution unless under special circumstances. If the food did not agree he considered that the ill effects were due to too much food having been given. The amount of whole milk to be ordered for an infant varies from 400 to 600 grammes (14 to 21 oz.). He claimed to get most satisfactory results; amongst others "no tumid abdomens, no undiluted milk dyspepsia, no rickets, no eczema, no tuberculosis, no scurvy, and no weakness or flabbiness." His method has received the support of some distinguished accoucheurs in this country.

The first thing that strikes one about this method is the fact that infants should thrive on it at all, as cows' milk differs so markedly in chemical composition from breast milk. Apparently it has been possible in Paris to rear infants on undiluted cows' milk. The sterilization employed is probably an important factor, as the curd formed in milk after exposure to a high temperature is soft and may more easily slip through the pylorus. Dr. Cautley suggests that in such cases the digestion must be mainly intestinal. It is generally recognized that whole cows' milk is not suited to an infant's digestive powers owing to the large protein content. If these proteins are chemically altered by heating so as to be tolerated in large amount the stomach has probably got to deal with some unnatural food. The effects of sterilized milk on an infant's nutrition have been already considered, and the experience of most has condemned it. It will therefore require a good deal more proof of the advantage of Budin's method than has been forthcoming so far before physicians will adopt this system. In weakly infants and in diseased conditions the dilution of the proteins has been found an important part of successful feeding with cows' milk. Universal experience of this kind cannot be upset by dogmatic statements. Professor Budin seems to have been particularly unfortunate in his experiences with simple modification of the milk, a method which has firmly established itself as suitable for the majority of infants.