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CHAPTER XXXII.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, AND EGGS.
MILK.
1608. Milk is obtained only from the class of animals called Mammalia, and is intended by Nature for the nourishment of their young. The milk of each animal is distinguished by some peculiarities; but as that of the cow is by far the most useful to us in this part of the world, our observations will be confined to that variety.
1609. Milk, when drawn from the cow, is of a yellowish-white colour, and is the most yellow at the beginning of the period of lactation. Its taste is agreeable, and rather saccharine. The viscidity and specific gravity of milk are somewhat greater than that of water; but these properties vary somewhat in the milk procured from different individuals. On an average, the specific gravity of milk is 1.035, water being 1. The small cows of the Alderney breed afford the richest milk.
1610. Milk which is carried to a considerable distance, so as to be much agitated, and cooled before it is put into pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much, nor such rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into pans directly after it was milked.
1611. Milk, considered as an aliment, is of such importance in domestic economy as to render all the improvements in its production extremely valuable. To enlarge upon the antiquity of its use is unnecessary; it has always been a favourite food in Britain. "Lacte et carno vivunt," says Caesar, in his Commentaries; the English of which is, "the inhabitants subsist upon flesh and milk." The breed of the cow has received great improvement in modern times, as regards the quantity and quality of the milk which she affords; the form of milch-cows, their mode of nourishment, and progress, are also manifest in the management of the dairy.
1612. Although milk in its natural state be a fluid, yet, considered as an aliment, it is both solid and fluid: for no sooner does it enter the stomach, than it is coagulated by the gastric juice, and separated into curd and whey, the first of these being extremely nutritive.
1613. Milk of the human subject is much thinner than cow's milk; Ass's milk comes the nearest to human milk of any other; Goat's milk is something thicker and richer than cow's milk; Ewe's milk has the appearance of cow's milk, and affords a larger quantity of cream; Mare's milk contains more sugar than that of the ewe; Camel's milk is used only in Africa; Buffalo's milk is employed in India.