MILK. 93 



the blood-corpuscles or leucocytes. They are simply ele- 

 ments of secretion. 



Composition of the Milk. "We do not propose, in treat- 

 ing of the composition of the milk, to consider the various 

 methods of analysis which have been employed by different 

 chemists. The only constituent that has ever presented 

 much difficulty in the estimation of its quantity is caseine ; 

 but the various processes now employed in its extraction 

 lead to nearly the same results. The following table, com- 

 piled by Robin from the analyses of various chemists, gives 

 the constituents of human milk. 1 



Composition of Human Milk. 



Water 902-717 to 863*149 



Caseine (desiccated) 29*000 " 39*000 



Lacto-proteine 1*000 " 2*770 



Albumen traces " 0*880 



; Margarine 17*000 " 25*840 



Oleine 7*500 " 11*400 

 Butyrine, Caprine, Caproi'ne, Ca- 



priline 0-500 " 0*760 



ae, or lactose) 37*000 " 49'000 



Lactate of soda (?) 0*420 " 0*450 



Chloride of sodium 0*240 " 0*340 



Chloride of potassium 1-440 " 1*830 



Carbonate of soda 0*053 " 0'056 



Carbonate of lime 0'069 " 0*070 



Phosphate of lime of the bones 2'310 " 3'440 



Phosphate of magnesia 0*420 " 0*640 



Phosphate of soda 0*225 " 0*230 



Phosphate of iron (?) 0*032 " 0*070 



Sulphate of soda 0*074 " 0*075 



Sulphate of potassa traces. 



1,000*000 1,000*000 

 f Oxygen 1*29 \ 



Gases in solution -] Nitrogen 12*17 ! 30 parts per 1,000 in volume. 2 



( Carbonic acid 16*54 ) 



1 ROBIN, Le$ons sur les humeurs, Paris, 1867, p. 395. In copying this table, 

 the arrangement has been somewhat modified, and an evident arithmetical error 

 has been corrected. 



3 HOPPE, Untersuchungen iiber die Bestandtheile der Milch und ihre nachsten 



I 



Butter, 25 to 38 j ] 



