194 



MILK -FEVER 



MILKWOKTS 



It U preferable to use tlic milk nf ,,, animal and 

 not the mixed milk nf a dniry, as in that way we 

 minimise the chances of infi-riiun. It should \- 

 diluted with alxmt one-third nf water, and perhaps 

 a pinch of sugar added. It then forms a gixxl MI!.. 

 slitiite for tin- mother's milk. Hut disease is veiy 

 frequently transmitted hy milk, not only from using 

 contaminated water for noshing the milk runs and 

 for adulterating it, 1m t also fiom tin- cow itself (gee 

 TVI-HKID KKVKR, STAULATIXA). It \ not improb- 

 able that many olnrure tubercular conditions are 

 thus acquired by children. 



Condensed milk is generally prepared from that 

 of the row, IWMtaMd h\ the addition of ordinary 

 cane sugar, and evaluated to alxmt jth of it* 

 bulk. While hot it is poured into tins ami 

 sealed up. When used for fixxl the milk may be 

 diluted with six or seven times its volume of 

 water, but in the case of infants thr dilution must 

 be more liberal. During the lirst month it may 

 ! diluted with twelve or fourteen volumes, ami 

 later on with ten volumes oT water. It is often 

 found t< agree with children better than cow's 

 milk, but it i.s a fatal mistake to rear an infant 

 on condensed milk entirely, ns the diet will wilier 

 from too great uniformity. It U a safe rule when 

 a child has to !- bnm-hi up on animal milk, and 

 when the household milk does not agree, to change 

 the dairy. If this does not sueeeed, the ordinary 

 cow's milk may IK- tried, say for the morning or after- 

 noon feeding, with oonden-ed milk at night. In all 

 cases it U better to err in freely diluting milk, for 

 nothing is so ajit to disagree witli a child as a surfeit 

 of rich milk ; dilution will do no particular harm. 



Milk is frequently adulterated, chielly with water 

 (seo Anr I.TKKATIIIN ). Ill this case a given volume 

 of milk will contain an abnormally small number 

 of milk globules. As these milk globules are the 

 cau-e of the opacity of milk, a thin layer of the 

 adulterated milk will lie less opaque than a similar 

 I. . ci of unadulterated milk. Many forms of lacto- 

 scoix have been invented for testing the opacity 

 ami consequent dilution of milk i m I. MTOMETEK). 

 I n-kimmcd milk should yield in standing 12 to 24 

 part* per cent, of cream," ami its specilie gravity 

 should be 1-028 to lo:tl. Skimmed milk is 

 heavier 1 -032 to 1-040 (see also DAIRY). Milk- 

 weed U a local name for the genus Asclepias ; for 

 Milk-tree, see Cow -TREK. 



II ilk-IV> rr. The establishment of the secretion 

 of milk about two days after deliver}' is occasion- 

 ally the cause of considerable constitutional dis 

 turbance. with all the symptoms of the feverish 

 Mate. This occurs especially when the infant is 

 not applied soon enough to the breast, and 

 es|x'cially when the mother is kept on too low a 

 diet ; a fact which probably explains the much 

 greater frequency of the condition in former times, 

 when such treatment was considered necessary. 



The distiitliam f health is not serious, ami passes 



off when the lircants are emptied. 



In the lower animal-, also, milk fever comes on 

 within a few days after parturition. One. variety, 

 common to most animals, consists in inflammation 

 of the membranes of the womb and Ixiwels, anil 

 is produced liy exposure to cold, overdriving, or 

 injury during falxmr; it i- IM--I treated with oil and 

 laudanum, tincture of aconite, fomentations to the 

 Ix-llv, and antiseptics such as carludic acid (largely 

 diluted ) injected into the womb itself. The other 

 variety, to which alone the term 'milk-finer' 

 MmnM be applied, is almost |>eciiliar to the cow. 

 It attack* animal* in high condition, that are gixxl 

 milkers, and have already lx>rne several calves, and 

 i-t- in ciiti-.'eiif>n of the brain and large nerv. 

 on* centre*, and impair- all the vital functions. 

 leading to .Inline". (QM of sensation, stupor, and 

 complete unconsciousness. Blood must be drawn 



early, whilst the cow is still standing and sensible : 

 lale'r it only hastens death. A large dune of physio, 

 such as a ixmnd each of salts and treacle, a drachm 

 of calomel, an ounce of gamboge, and two ounces 

 of ginger, should at once be given, solid fixxl 

 withheld, clysters of soap, salt, and water thiown 

 up every hour, cloths wrung out of hot water 

 applied along the spine, the teats drawn 

 tunes daily, and the animal frequently turned. 

 Although treatment is uncertain, pievcntion may 

 be ensured by milking the cow regularly for ten 

 days Ix'forc calving, feeding sparingly on "laxative, 

 unstimiilating food, giving several doses of ph\sic 

 before and one immediately after calving, and, 

 when the animal is in very high condition and 

 iirone to milk-fever, bleeding her a day or two 

 before calving. 



Milkworl* 'so called from the milky juice) 

 are various species of plant- belongint; to the natural 

 order Polygalea- or I'olygahice.'e. The order com- 

 prises alxmt 20 genera and 5IX) siiecies which are 

 widely distributed over the tropical and subtropical 

 parts of the world ; several species are natives of 

 North America and of Kurope. They are heibaee- 

 ous plants or shrubby, occasionally in the latter case 

 lieing of climbing liabit. The leaves are usually 

 simple and destitute of stipules; the flowers are 

 irregular. Their qualities are generally tonic and 

 slightly acrid : and some, as Krameiia, are very 

 astringent. The Common Milkwort (I'oli/.fttlti 

 rii/i/itnx) is a small perennial plant, growing in 

 dry hilly pastures, 

 with an .ascending 

 stem, linear-lance- 

 olate leaves, and 

 a terminal raceme 

 of small but very 

 beautiful (lowers, 

 having a finely- 

 crested keel. It 

 varies consider- 

 ably in size, in the 

 size and even 



shape of the 

 leaves, and in the 

 size and colour of 

 the llowers, which 

 are sometimes of 

 a most brilliant 

 blue, sometimes 

 purple, pink, or 

 white. P. N in'j'i 



is a North A ri- 



can s|x i cies, with 

 erect simple tufted 

 stems, aUiut one 

 foot high, and 

 terminal racemes 

 of small white 

 llowers. The root, 

 which is woody, 

 branched, con- 

 torted, and about half an inch in diameter, is 

 the Senega Koot. Seneka Hoot, or Snake Hoot of 

 the I'nitiil States, famous as an imaginary cure 

 for snake bites, but really possessing ini|x>rtant 

 medicinal virtues stimulating, diuretic, diaphor- 

 etic, emmenngogup, and in large doses emetic and 

 purgative employed in catarrhs, pulmonary allee- 

 tions, rheumatisms, low fevers, &e. Its chief 

 active principle is 1'olygalic Acid. ('...II^O,,. The 

 nxit of /'. KIIK-IIH ha- IH-CM employed as a euro for 

 snake-bites by the American Indians from time 

 immemorial, and it is a curious fact that /'. rrota- 

 liiriiiiit'-* \- employed in the same way in the 

 Himalayas. P. rulgiiris is tonic, stimulant, and 

 diaphoretic; and I', niiitirn, a very similar Euro- 

 pean species, possesses the some properties in a 



Common Milkwort 

 (Prtyyakt vulffarit). 



