ensity
never afterwards equaled; and, as brain-work means actual destruction of
brain-fiber, how vital it is that food should be furnished in the right
ratio, and made up of the right elements!
With the coming of the grinders, and the call of the muscles and tissues
for stronger food, begins the necessity for a more varied dietary. Our
baby now, from two and a half to seven years of age, will require daily:--
Bread, not less than 12 ounces.
Butter 1 ounce.
Milk 1/2 pint.
Meat 2 ounces.
Vegetables 6 ounces.
Pudding or gruel 6 ounces.
This table is made from the dietaries of various children's hospitals,
where long experiment has settled the quantities and qualities necessary
to health, or, as in these cases, recovery from sickness, at which time
the appetite is always keener.
In many cases physicians who have studied the laws of food, and kept pace
with modern experiments in dietetics, strike out meat altogether till the
child is seven or eight years old, and allow it but once daily after this
time, and in very limited amount. Sir Henry Thompson, one of the most
distinguished of English physicians, and a man noted for his popularity as
diner out and giver of dinners, writes strenuously against the prevailing
excessive use of meat, and especially protests against its over use for
children; and his opinion is shared by most thoughtful medical men. The
nitrogenous vegetables advantageously take its place; and cheese, as
prepared after the formulas given in Mattieu Williams's "Chemistry of
Cookery," is a food the value of which we are but just beginning to
appreciate.
As to quantity, with the healthy child, playing at will, there need be
very little restraint. Few children will eat too much of perfectly simple
food, such as this table includes. Let cake or pastry or sweetmeats enter
in, and of course, as long as the thing tastes good, the child will beg
for more. English children are confined to this simple diet; and though of
course a less exacting climate has much to do with the greater
healthfulness of the English than the American people, the plain but
hearty and regular diet of childhood has far more.
Our young American of seven, at a hotel breakfast, would call for coffee
and ham and eggs and sausages and hot cakes. His English cousin would have
no liberty to call for anything. In f
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