MILK

consists of watcr, proteid, carbohydrate, fat and salts. It thus contains the five e entials to make a complete food. It is, however, not sufficiently digestible to the adult to constitute a sole diet during active work, though two to three pints a day will often satiafy an invalid at rest in bed. The iomiane of the infant is «pecially adapted for its digestion, and it should constitute the only diet of the infant for the first six months of life. Tho composition of milk varics slightly in different animals; that of the a most resembles the human product. Tho proteid in milk is in the form of albumin and of cascinogen; the carbohydrate is a tastele sugar—named lactose or milk sugar—and the fat is the cream, which ia evenly distributed through the milk in microscopic drops, 80 as to constitute &@ natural emulsion. The salts include all the material nece ary for the mincral part of bone, and as there is mare lime in milk than in lime water, there is no need to attempt to improve on nature by edding lime water in order to “ prevent rickets.” When swallowed, the rennet of the stomach juice changes the soluble cascinogen into insoluble shreds of casein, which form a sponge-like meshwork that entangles the cream in its meshes. The resulting ma is the curd. Rennet jks gis from the stomach of the pig or call is uzed to make c and whey—a proce exactly the same as the first stage of the digostion of milk. ‘The curd is slowly di olved by the stomach juice subsequently. It is owing to this fact that human milk is so much more digestible than cows’ milk. Cows’ milk contains a t deal more casein than human milk, and the result is the infant is usually unequal to the task of di olving the ma es of curd that form in its stomach after a meal of pure cow’s milk. Such undigested curds turn sour, if not vomited, and poison the child. For infant feeding, cow's milk should be diluted with two or three times its bulk of barley-water, for a lighter and smaller curd is thus obtained [see /afancy}. For invalid dict, similarly, milk should bo diluted, but soda water in that case is the best diluent. It should, moreover, bo regarded as food and given at regular intervals only, thirst being relieved between whiles by water, lemonade, ete., but not by milk. When dilution does not render tho milk sufficiently digestible, it may be peptonised, or tho curd may be removed in foto, by making curds and whey, and using, instead of milk, whey with the addition of cream; we the a give all the ingredients of milk without the ease in, Appended are the recipes for the shove methods:— To peptonise milk, Take a pint of milk, add a quarter of a pint of water, and boil half of it; add this to the cold milk. The tee J mixture is roughly at blood heat. Add 20 grains of bicarbonate of soda (a a), and two teaspoonfuls of liquor pancreatic us, and put aside in a warm place for agin minates. Then arrest tho peptonisation by boiling or by yee | on ice, otherwize the milk becomes too bitter, It should be kept in a cool place and made fresh every twelve hours. Pancreatising — are also used instead of Uquor pancreatic us. air child and Ho fod are two reliable makers. If skimmed milk be used and cream added after peptonisation the peptonised milk is rather more palatable. To make wicy. Take half a pint of milk, bol half, and mix the hot and cold oer together. Add two teaspoonfuls of rennet, c.c., s, acd allow to stand in a warm place. The curd forms, and after some timo it contracts and squeezes out the whey. Decant. One teaful of cream to four tablespoonfuls of whey is the = swop staan for infant feeding. To Humanise Milk. Make Ley as abore; boil it, pe aged od gepetecpesy pe, 3 ior each third of a pint of whey. Allow to cool, and twice as much new milk, Yor each pint of this mixture of whey and milk add two <a ae other ape ng ly that is barufal. The food should be made every twelve hours, kept standing io 4 cool —_v ee wet eee & © wma ae place, preferably an ico, and warmed as required. If this falls to agree with the infant, equal parts of whey and milk should be tried. and Gnally whey and cream only. To Pasteurise Milk, This is to sterilise milk without boiling it. The milk is placed in a double boiler and steamed for twenty minutes, It is then free of oll the common disease gerins liable to contaminate it and at the game time retains the teste and properties of raw milk. Instead of 2 double boiler, a bottle of milk may be stood on a drainer in a large saucepan, water added below the level of the drainer. the saucepan lid put on, end the whole placed on the fire so that the milk is steamed. | Milk made sour with lactic acid bacilli is now being used | in the treatment of many forms of dyspepsia, as theac | bacilli destroy the harmful ones. Lactic acid becilli can | be obtained from Parke, Davis & Co., and from Roberts, | 76 New Bond Street, London, with directions as to use. eg wth Lees in rr sae those which contain car ioxide gas di oly pre ure, c.g. | soda or seltzer water. Tho term also includes the medicinal | waters of the Spas. [Refer to Health Kesorts.] [s. 387]