e the value of a large amount of _milk_ in
the dietary of young people. The disorders of the bowels, which are not
uncommon in infancy and childhood, are due to errors in diet by which
improper food is supplied, and not to an excess of simple and proper
nourishment.

We have already given some directions for the preparation of infants'
food in treating of 'bringing-up by hand.' In addition to the various
substitutes for the mother's milk there mentioned, we wish to note that
known as _Liebig's soup_. This great chemist thus describes the method
of making it:

'Half an ounce of wheat flour, half an ounce of malt meal, and seven and
a half grains of bicarbonate of potass, are weighed off. They are first
mixed by themselves, then with the addition of one ounce of water, and
lastly, of five ounces of milk. This mixture is then heated upon a slow
fire, being constantly stirred until it begins to get thick. At this
period the vessel is removed from the fire, and the mixture is stirred
for five minutes, is again heated and again removed when it gets thick,
and, lastly, it is heated till it boils. This soup is purified from bran
by passing it through a fine sieve (a piece of fine muslin), and now it
is ready for use.'

Barley-malt can be obtained at any brewery. First, it is separated from
the impurities, and then ground in an ordinary coffee-mill to a coarse
meal. Care should be taken to get the common fresh wheat-flour, _not the
finest_, because the former is richest in starch.

In practice, the troublesome weighing of the materials may be dispensed
with, as a heaped table-spoonful of wheat-flour weighs pretty nearly
half an ounce, and a like table-spoonful of malt-meal, not quite as
heaped, weighs also half an ounce. The bicarbonate of potass can be
obtained from the druggist put up in powders of seven and a half grains,
each ready for use. The amount of water and of milk prescribed can be
attained with sufficient accuracy by means of the table-spoon; two
table-spoonfuls will give the quantity of water (one ounce), and ten
table-spoonfuls the quantity of milk (five ounces). These directions
will enable any sensible mother to make the preparation without
difficulty. The soup tastes tolerably sweet, and, when diluted with
water, may be given to very young infants.

Although the method of preparing Liebig's soup is a somewhat tedious
one, yet, as it is a combination which has long been so highly
recommended by physicians