=Farinaceous Foods.= There are many farinaceous forms of food prepared for the use of infants and children. Probably the most valuable of them are those made according to the Liebig process. The starch of the grain from which such foods are prepared is, in the process of manufacture, changed into soluble dextrine, or sugar (glucose), by the action of the diastase of malt: the very thing which an infant cannot do. When we consider that the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal consists of this change into glucose, and that it is effected principally by the saliva and the pancreatic juice, the significance of the value of such foods will be seen. It is also well to bear in mind that neither of these functions (the secretion of saliva and pancreatic juice) is developed in an infant until it enters the third month of its life, and then but very imperfectly. That alone shows the necessity of _excluding all starch_ from its food up to that age. Mellin's food and malted milk are prepared according to the Liebig process. In them the starch has been converted into soluble matter by the action of the ferment of malt. It is really a partial predigestion. Mellin's food does not contain milk. The following analysis of Mellin's food is one made by Professor Fresenius, of Wiesbaden, Germany: Non-nitrogenous substances soluble in water 69.38% Non-nitrogenous substances insoluble in water 3.18% ------ _Total carbohydrates_ 72.56% Nitrogenous substances soluble in water 4.69% Nitrogenous substances insoluble in water 5.06% ----- _Total albuminoids_ 9.75% _Total salts_, mostly phosphoric acid, carbonic acid, and potassa 4.37% ------ _Total moisture_ 13.32% Cane sugar, none. Reaction, alkaline. Comparative analysis of Mellin's food, prepared for use, with that of woman's milk and cow's milk. _Mellin's _Woman's _Cow's _Constituents._ Food._ Milk._ Milk._ Fat 2.36% 4.00% 3.30% Albuminoids 2.83% 2.50% 3.50% Carbohydrates 6.81% 6.50% 5.00% Salts and inorganic matter .74% .50% .70% Water 87.26% 86.50% 87.50% Cellulose A trace. -- -- Cane-sugar None. -- -- Starch None. -- -- DR. A. STUTZER, Bonn, Germany.