SECT. LXXXVII.—ON THE DRINKING OF MILK.
He who drinks milk ought to abstain from all other food until it be digested, and pass downwards. It is best therefore to drink it in the morning, newly milked, and to take no food after it, nor any hard exercise, because this would make it turn acid. But it is better to walk about gently, and rest between, without sleeping. After doing this, the first part will be evacuated, and then one may drink another part, and when it is evacuated another may be taken. At first, therefore, it purges properly, not indeed from the general system, but what was contained in the belly. Afterwards it enters the veins, and nourishes excellently, and is no longer evacuated. In bilious defluxions, and colliquative diarrhœas, the milk should be given boiled. Boil it at first gently, and for a short time, so that none of it may run over, and that part of it may be consumed. Afterwards it may be boiled more and more, taking care not to burn it, nor convert it into cheese. This will be best guarded against by boiling it softly, and clearing away what is separated by the agitation. It may be agitated with a smooth and slender reed; and, if it froth at the lips, this may be cleared away with a sponge, for often the part there spoils all the rest. The milk then, as is said, ought to be boiled until it become thicker and sweeter than the raw. And the thin and serous part may be dissipated by putting heated pebbles into the milk. This is beneficial in defluxions of the belly, and particularly in bilious ones.
Commentary. This account of the process of administering milk is taken from Oribasius, who, in his turn, is indebted to Ruffus. Avicenna, in like manner, copies from Ruffus. There is not in any other ancient author so full a description of the process of boiling milk. On the ancient modes of preparing milk for various purposes, and their uses, see ‘Geopon.’ (xviii), and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 38.) Pliny mentions that some cure gout in the hands and feet by milk. Simeon Seth joins our author, or rather Ruffus, in recommending boiled milk in dysentery. He likewise praises its effects in phthisis and dry coughs.
The method of preparing milk for use by putting heated stones into it, is mentioned by Dioscorides, Pliny, and others. Serapion recommends heated iron. See the following Section. Galen was aware that milk coagulates in the stomach before it is digested. (De Al. Fac. iii, 15.)
SECT. LXXXVIII.—ON CURDS AND WHEY.
By powerful boiling at a strong fire without smoke, the serous part of the milk is separated from the caseous, and is then strained through a sieve or piece of rag carefully, and to the serous part is added a moderate quantity of honey, or of vinegar and honey, or salts; and it is given to evacuate the bowels in the quantity of two sextarii to adults, and to younger persons not less than a sextarius. And milk thickened by ignited pebbles or iron may be given with advantage for dysenteries and alvine discharges.
Commentary. The method of preparing the schiston is thus described by Pliny: “Medici speciem unam addidere lactis generibus, quod schiston appellavere. Id fit hoc modo: fictili novo fervet caprinum maxime, ramisque ficulneis recentibus miscetur, additis totidem cyathis mulsi, quot sint heminæ lactis. Cum fervet, ne circumfundatur, præstat cyathus argenteus cum frigida aqua demissus ita ne quid infundat: ablatum deinde igni refrigeratione dividitur et discedit serum a lacte.” (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 33.) The same process is briefly described by Dioscorides (ii, 77.) Pliny recommends the whey thus prepared for epilepsy, melancholy, paralysis, leprosy, elephantiasis, and arthritis. This preparation of milk is often noticed by the ancient authors on medicine. It evidently consisted of the whey of the milk, separated from the cheese by a peculiar process.
The melca was a preparation from milk, and is mentioned by our author in the [Fourth Book § 27]. It also appears to have been a sort of curds and whey, or du lait caillé of the French, prepared by pouring hot vinegar upon milk. The process is minutely described in the Geoponics (xviii.)
The oxygal, or lac acidum, consisted of the caseous part of the milk, separated from the whey by a very complicated process, which is fully described by Columella. (xii, 8.) It is said by Galen to possess very refrigerant properties.