1406

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

i stiy*

in alcohol, as sulphate of potash and the phosphate of potash and soda; M ' r aresalts insoluble in water are the phosphates of lime, magnesia, and iron. 4 he aC ;dheld in solution in milk by the caseum principally; Berzelius says by the l acalso.

Characteristics of Good Milk. —The changes produced lD ^quality of the milk by diseased conditions of the cows has recently atconsiderable attention in Paris , owing to the prevalence of a in* ",called the cocote, among the cows in that capital (see Journ. de P gvol. xxv. p. 301-318). The following are the essential morbid c . 1 ^„ e r-

which have been recognised in milk :—want of homogeneousness, 11 k j l6

feet mobility or liquidity, capability of becoming thick or viscid ^ e>addition of ammonia, and presenting, when examined by the niicr° s (|[ .certain globules (agglutinated, tuberculated, or mulberry-like, ®? C jj 0 uldpus globules) not found in healthy milk. Hence, then, good milk ^.be quite liquid and homogeneous ; not viscid; and should contain ^spherical transparent globules, soluble in alkalies and ether; shot j eI itbecome thick when mixed with ammonia; and should form a no ■ , eprecipitate with acetic acid, but not be coagulated by heat. The r ^e,quantity of cream afforded by milk is estimated by a graduated glasscalled a lactometer. this

Physiological Effects. —Milk is highly nutritive. It °' ve * a jns!property to the sugar, the butter, and the caseum which it conBeing furnished by nature, as the aliment for mammals during 1 p r0 ,itperiod of their existence, its constituents have been taken by n of(Elliotson ’s Human Physiol, part i. p. 65) as the basis for a di' isall alimentary substances into the saccharine, the oily, and the ^minous. Perhaps the phosphate of lime found in milk oughtconsidered as an aliment for young animals ; inasmuch as it is is

to the developement of their osseous system. For the most par piereadily digestible; but with adults this is by no means irnivers - jcase. In some dyspeptics it proves heavy and difficult of diges * ^et,find that those with whom it disagrees are obnoxious to the use ® ^ th ewhence I infer that the injurious qualities of milk are ascribaboily constituent; and, with such patients, ass’s milk (whichlittle butter) usually agrees. . t 0 »ly

The quantity of nutritive matter contained in milk vanes n j u <il

with the species but with the individual,—nay with the same m , py

under different circumstances. The quality of the milk is. atte < jj sC ase>constitution, age, food, period after parturition, mental emotion,the use of medicines, &c. . , on

Dr. Young (quoted by Cullen, Mat. Med.) found that a bitevegetable aliment yielded an acescent and spontaneously c0 ° a pdmilk ; but when animal food was employed, the milk was aik‘did not spontaneously coagulate. , t gup'

Dr. Cullen says, “ I allege it to be a matter of experience, ^ f t) rposing the quantity of liquid to be the same, nurses living elltire a j,titythe greater part, upon vegetable aliment, afford a greater d ll ‘ JllU <;hmilk, and of a more proper quality, than nurses living U P^ ^ fiftyanimal food. This I venture to assert, from the observatioyears.” _ j iave o' ,cr

The influence which many medicines taken by the mother p l0 ughthe sucking infant, is a circumstance known to every nurse,