The author states in his preface that "this manual is designed to supply the practitioner with a reference handbook, of moderate size, in which he may find an exposition of the present theory and practice of infant feeding. The material here presented can be secured only by reading a vast journalistic literature which is extremely conflicting in its statements and of little practical use without extensive sifting." The author's summary of the peculiarities of digestion and metabolism in infancy

more »

... is fairly complete and up to date. His point of view is, in general, very reasonable. He comes out strongly in favor of breast-feeding and shows the objections to the use of undiluted cows' milk. He is not fair in his criticisms of percentage feeding, which he calls Rotch's method. He apparently fails to realize that the feeding tables which he quotes were prepared years ago, before our knowledge of the digestion and metabolism of infancy was as complete as it now is, and that no intelligent believer in percentage feeding follows any table or believes in any set "method" of feeding. Feeding in percentages is merely a method of calculation and a means of fitting food to the digestive capacity of the individual infant. It is not a system of feeding. After criticising other "methods" of feeding, the author gives a table of his own, which hardly seems consistent. He classes sodium citrate among the alkalies and is apparently unaware of the work of Bosworth and Van Slyke as to its action. He is very strongly in favor of fourhour intervals. He disregards the fact that infectious diarrhea is due to a variety of organisms and that the treatment should be modified according to the etiologic organism in the given case. He gives a very comprehensive review of the literature. He criticizes everyone, Americans and Germans alike, without fear or favor. We do not agree with all his conclusions, but feel that he has intended to be fair but is mistaken. The book affords very interesting reading. We fear, however, that although it is intended for practitioners no one but a pediatrist will really appreciate it. With Sabre and Scalpel.