SECT. 6.
It is manifest, that every Part of the Milk exerts an Effect proper to it self; the fat Part, from which the Butter is formed, preserves from the Stone, which affords an evident Reason why Stones taken from the human Body, upon Distillation, afford so small a Portion of Oyl; whence I am of Opinion, that the Stone is most commonly generated in the Kidneys and Bladder, when the Blood is not sufficiently stocked with oily Particles. Upon this Principle it is easy to see why all oily Substances, as Oyl of Sweet Almonds, taken plentifully, is a Remedy in the Stone; for the oily Particles (as Hoffman observes in his Notes upon Poterius) by their Hooks hinder the Saline Spicula from uniting so as to form an hard Substance. It is known in the Chymistry, that Oyl resists Crystallization; and many Artists that are minded to have beautiful Crystals, add rectified Spirit of Wine to their Lye, in order to absorb the Oyl. Upon the same Principles, the Precipitation of the earthy Particles, and the lodging thereof in the Membranes of the Joints, so as to form chalky Knots, are prevented. Poterius tells us of a Woman of Sixty, who was so reduced in her Flesh and Strength, that she was scarce sensible of Pain, who by the Help of Goat’s Milk, was in three Months Time restored to a State of perfect Health, notwithstanding a great Decay of Strength and Flesh, an Hectick Fever, and a Stone; she took at first but four Ounces of the Milk, which was at length increased to eight; at the End of fifteen Days she voided some oblong and Very hard Stones, upon which she began to recover. She continued the Use of the Milk for a Month, at which Time the Fever left her, her Appetite returned, and she began to gather Flesh. She was alive and hearty in the Sixty Eighth Year of her Age, when Poterius gave his Account. Although in this Case the oily Particles of the Blood might contribute much to lubricate the Passages, yet probably the serous Part of the Goats Milk, impregnated with a nitrous abstersive Salt, attenuated the thicker Humours, and irritated the nervous membranous Parts to discharge the Stones. It is observable that after taking plentifully of Milk, the Urine is not only thin and watry, but made also in large Quantities. This fat Substance in the Milk also loosens the Bowels and softens Pain, it resists corrosive Poisons, in as much as it sheaths and anoints the sharp Spicula thereof. Many Empiricks, to shew the Force of their Antidotes (which are generally good for nothing) to the ignorant Multitude, having lined their Stomachs well with Butter, or Oyl, either of Olive or Sweet Almonds, will securely swallow Mercury and even Arsenick, and afterwards taking the pretended Specifick, cheat the poor People of their Money. Poterius experienced the good Effects of Milk, plentifully taken, to break the Force of Poyson; for a Woman, who being very dry, had drank Aqua Fortis instead of Wine, was relieved from the immediate Danger of Death by drinking plentifully of Steeled Milk, with a Dram of Wax, a little Nutmeg, and Terra Lemnia. Tulpius, in his Observations takes Notice, that Goldsmiths, while they handle Mercury and Antimony, keep in their Mouths a bit of Bread thick buttered, or take fat Broths, to guard against their mischievous Effluvia. Milk, by reason of its Oiliness, is one of the best, temperate, and nourishing of Foods; nothing exceeds it in consumptive Cases. These Particles admirably temper any Sharpness in the Body, and are serviceable where the Kidneys are ulcerated, and to scorbutick People, especially if the Juice of Cresses or Scurvygrass be added to it, and taken two Hours before Meals. It is of great Service in Dysenteries, where there is great Sharpness in the first Passages, and chiefly after the Use of absorbent Medicines. Upon the same Account it eases Pains in the Eyes, and the serous Part of the Milk helps much to dilute the Salts; dropt into the Ear, it asswages Pains there, especially when it is attended with a buzzing Noise.
SECT. 7.
Since it appears that Milk, by reason of its oily Particles, is thus serviceable in mitigating and curing these Disorders, there is no room to doubt, from Parity of Reason, that the frequent Use of it in the Gout should not break and invert the austere, sharp, saline Particles, and drive them forth of the Body by Perspiration, Urine, or other Discharges; for, (as Waldsmid observes) Salts predominate in this Distemper, which is evident from the itching in the Skin observed to attend the Decline of a Fit. The volatile Salt of the serous Humour going off, insensibly frets the Skin, while that which is fixed in the thick and viscid Humour, and cannot easily fly off, hardens into Knots. I have observed, upon the Application of Blisters to gouty Persons, a Liquor of an high corrosive Nature to flow from the Part.
SECT. 8.
I now come to examine the second essential Part of Milk, viz. that which is cheesy, earthy, and somewhat saline. I am not of Opinion that the Acid of the Stomach is increased by this Part, for there is no Acid naturally in the Stomach; if there were, it would be mischievous. Although it be certain that Cheese is acid, and turns sharper by Age, yet those Particles which are precipitated into Chese, are vastly different in the Chyle and the Milk, from what they are in a State of Separation, and after being exposed to the Air. The Salts, which before were nitrous, and of a middle Nature, somewhat volatile, and mixed with oily, sulphureous, or earthy Particles, being agitated by an inward Motion, become more stiff and complicated. These Salts, while in a State of Union with the Milk and Chyle in the Body, by Means of the progressive Motion, are more disunited and smaller, the serous and oily Particles keeping them asunder; and there is neither Time nor Rest allowed them in their natural State to produce fresh Combinations, as they have when deprived of their progressive Motion, in a State of Separation from the Body. That Milk in warm Weather turns sowre, is to be imputed to its intestine Motion, where the Salts, before small and somewhat nitrous, mixed with the oily Particles by the Influx of the Air, change their natural Texture and Figure, and become more rigid and heavy, and so precipitate the light, viscid, and earthy Particles. That the Air contributes much to this Change, appears from hence, because that alone produces a remarkable Quantity of acid Salts in some Bodies. If a Piece of Alum be calcined in the open Fire, upon exposing it again to the Air, it shall double its Weight; so that a large Quantity of aluminous acid Salt may be drawn from thence: And although Milk be coagulated in the Breasts, it happens either from an acid Acrimony in the Blood, or its Motion being stopped, and some Obstructions of the milky Vessels. It doth not appear from any Experiment yet known, that healthy Milk fresh drawn contains any Acid; the Manner in which this Part of the Milk acquires this Tendency, I conceive to be this: We have already asserted, that Milk, in its natural State, contains no Acid, although after being exposed to Warm Air, by Means of some Fermentation and inward Motion, it becomes acid, which is to be look’d upon as a new Production, no way relating to Milk in its natural State. The cheesy Particles of Milk, if I may so call them, when in the Body differ extremely from those which out of the Body form the Cheese; for while in the Body, they are in the Shape of earthy, subtile, viscid Particles, mixed with the Milk, Chyle, and Blood; they give a due Consistence to the Milk, by duly mixing the oily, fat and serous Particles with them, and while in their due progressive Motion, keep the Milk in a proper Temperature, and occasion a slower Motion of the Milk through the milky Vessels.
SECT. 9.
It may be asked, How this Part of the Milk comes to be serviceable in the Gout, and other scorbutick Disorders? Because its Parts are slimy, chalky, and earthy, they gently temper the Acrimony of the Humours, and imbibe and absorb it; and this is the Reason why the Milk of Nurses who feed upon Acids, or whose Blood hath a Tendency that Way, soon turns; for such acid Particles being separated in the Glands of the Breasts, by coagulating and thinning the Milk, by separating from the other Particles of the Milk, and staying behind, are the Occasion that the Milk comes out unfit for Nourishment.