LOWLY VEGETABLE FORMS. 469 



comparatively easy. The condensed milk is easily converted to the 

 condition of ordinary milk by the addition of either cold or hot water. 

 The addition of the sugar is found to be necessary, in order to enable 

 the other constituents to resist decomposition. Milk will keep any 

 length of time when entirely desiccated, but, by the process of drying 

 entirely, the milk loses its flavor and many of its properties. The 

 semi-liquid condition of condensed milk prevents these changes, but 

 in this state it is liable to decompose ; hence the necessity of addi- 

 tional sugar. 



The question arises as to whether this added sugar in any way in- 

 terferes with the quality of the milk in its relation to the diet of in- 

 fants or invalids. In conq:>aring human milk with cow's milk, we find 

 that the latter contains more caseine and less sugar than the former. 

 Hence, when given to children, it is customary to add a little water 

 and a little sugar to make it like mother's milk. This object is really 

 effected by the addition of cane-sugar to the condensed milk, and it 

 may, therefore, be unhesitatingly employed in the nursery as a substi- 

 tute for ordinary cow's milk. 



After a personal inspection of the Aylesbury manufactory, and a 

 full consideration of the whole subject, we are quite prepared to say 

 that, where good fresh cow's milk is unattainable, as it is almost prac- 

 tically so in our large towns, there is no substitute for it equal to con- 

 densed milk. Nor is this a matter of theory ; hundreds of gallons are 

 being used every day in London, and most of it under the direction 

 of experienced medical men. One medical man assures us that he has 

 a healthy, fine-grown child of ten months that has never taken any 

 thing but condensed milk. As the diet of invalids, it may in some 

 cases require watching when the action of sugar is injurious to the 

 system ; but in these cases milk should be altogether interdicted. 



It is to be hoped that no disadvantage in the use of this agent has 

 been overlooked, as the advantages of its use are so many and so ob- 

 vious. It presents a pure form of milk in a condition in which it may 

 be kept for any length of time, and is not injured by removal. It is 

 always at hand night and day, and, by the addition of cold or hot 

 water, can be converted into nutritious and wholesome food. Nature. 



LOWLY VEGETABLE FORMS. 



By Ebv. HUGH MACMILLAN. 



LIFE is everywhere. " Nature lives" says Lewes ; " every pore 

 is bursting with life ; every death is only a new birth ; every 

 grave a cradle." " The earth-dust of the universe," says Jean Paul, 

 " is inspired by the breath of the great God. The world is brimming 

 with life ; every leaf on every tree is a land of spirits." The tendency 



