ASS’S:. MILK. 67 
33 
The old English name “Sperage” bears reference to an 
ancient usage of feathery brushes made with sprays of the wild 
plant, to be employed for sprinkling (“ asperging”) the con- 
gregations in old Roman churches of Southern Europe. At 
Ravenna the sprouts have been sold three to the pound. 
ASS’S MILK. 
THERE are various milks used for dietetic purposes. some of 
these being likewise medicinal. Comprised among them are the 
milk of cud-chewing animals, human milk, ass’s milk, and mare’s 
milk. The essential difference between the first two of these 
milks is in the character of the casein, or curd, and the propor- 
tions thereof to the other parts which do not clot. The milks of 
all mammals (creatures which give suck), consist of water which 
holds in virtual, or actual solution, salts, sugar, cream and other 
clotting substances, with minute globules of fat uniformly 
suspended throughout the fluid, though tending towards the top 
because of their lighter weight. Dilution with water will not 
alter the fact that cow’s milk is acid in reaction, whilst the 
human variety, when drawn directly from the mother’s breast, 
is alkaline. Ass’s milk contains less solids than either of the 
other sorts, whilst being more rich in sugar than the rest (except 
human milk). It is poor in curd, and fat. being therefore light, and — 
easy of digestion. This milk has in every age of physic been valued 
as a prime antidote to wasting from consumption of the lungs. 
Furthermore, leading authorities unanimously pronounce as to 
the superiority of ass’s milk for rearing feeble infants. But 
Dr. R. Hutchison disagrees from this generally received notion. 
He complains that being especially poor in fat, which is so 
important for infants, it is of itself ill suited for their nourish- 
ment. Moreover, it is slightly laxative, containing relatively 
more cheesy substance, and less albumin, than human milk. 
‘The percentage of fat,” says Ellenburger, “is much too low 
to make it proper for habitual use by children.” 
An artificial milk of the same nature as that of the ass may be 
easily made (on paper) by diluting cow’s milk (thus reducing the 
percentage of sugar, curd, and fat) to the quality of mother’s 
milk; but the difficulty of digesting the particular curd from 
the cow still remains to be overcome. On the whole, therefore, 
ass’s milk is the nearest approach to good milk from the human 
