CHEESE. 149 
is prepared an ointment “ good,” says Gerarde, “‘ for anointing 
the weary traveller.” This herb is par excellence the Bedstraw 
of “ Our Lady,” who gave birth to her divine Son, says the 
legend, in a stable, with wild flowers only for the bedding. Thus 
in an old Latin hymn she sings right gloriously :— 
** Lectum stravi tibi soli: dormi, nate bellule! 
Stravi lectum foeno molle: dormi, mi animule ! 
Ne quid desit sternam rosis: sternam fcenum violis, 
Pavimentum hyacinthis, et proesepe liliis.” 
“* Sleep, sweet little babe on the bed I have spread thee : 
Sleep, fond little life, on the straw scattered o’er ! 
’ Mid the petals of roses and pansies I’ve laid thee, 
In crib of white lilies: blue bells on the floor.” 
Pure milk, when curdled by rennet, leaves most of its fat in 
the Cheese (casein, or curd, as in Cheddar Cheese) ; but if some 
of the cream is first removed from the milk by skimming, then 
a Cheese is produced which is poor in fat, like Dutch Cheese. 
Good Cheese is composed of from 30 to 50 per cent of water, 
20 to 25 per cent of casein, or curd, 18 to 30 per cent of fat, and 
4 to 6 per cent of mineral matter. If, again, the curd is pre- 
cipitated by letting the milk become sour, or if by adding vinegar 
to it, then a comparatively poor Cheese is the result. Also the 
nature of the Cheese will depend much on the kind of milk used. 
When the casein, or curd, is squeezed, and pressed so as to remove 
the liquid whey, if high pressure is used then hard Cheese is 
made; if lower pressure is employed, then a soft Cheese is 
produced, but not of a sort which keeps well. The next step is 
to ripen the Cheese, a process dependent on bacterial life intro- 
duced from without, either spontaneously, or by design, the 
flavour of the Cheese being determined by the particular species 
of germ which obtains access to it whilst it ripens. The mineral 
matters contained in Cheese are chiefly salts of lime, and some 
Cheeses contain further about 2 per cent of milk sugar (lactose). 
The infiltration of plentiful fat comprised in Cheese makes it 
always an article of diet not easily dealt with by delicate stomachs, 
especially when animal food is likewise eaten. The incorporated 
fat (which is not miscible with the gastric juices) prevents 
digestive juices reaching the curd thoroughly, so that Cheese 
should be carefully masticated in order to finely divide its 
substance before swallowing the same; or, another plan is to 
rate the Cheese before eating it, or to dissolve it in a little water 
