CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



are exposed to the air on a gravelly beach, or in a 

 house, and dried. Cod, ling, and tusk so prepared, 

 are termed in Scotland salt-fish. Salmon in this 

 state is called kipper; and haddocks are usually 

 denominated by the name of the place where they 

 have been cured. After being steeped in salt, 

 herrings are in many places hung up in houses 

 made for the purpose, and dried with the smoke of 

 wood. In this state they are sent to market under 

 the name of red-herrings! By the above processes 

 of salting, drying, and smoking, the fibres of the 

 flesh are hardened, and the digestibility of fish is 

 to a corresponding extent imp'aircd ; though in 

 some cases they may thereby be rendered more 

 palatable and nutritious. The character of the 

 fibres, indeed, will afford a trustworthy guide 

 other circumstances being equal to the digesti- 

 bility of the different kinds of fish. Thus the 

 denser fibres of the skate render this fish less 

 digestible than the turbot ; and the same circum- 

 stance makes the halibut less digestible than the 

 salmon. Prawns, shrimps, &c. like the lobster and 

 crab, have hard, dense fibres, that are not easily 

 dissolved by the gastric secretions. Muscles, 

 cockles, &c. are less easily digested than oysters, 

 and it is quite a mistaken notion that these are 

 comparatively harmless in this respect. As to the 

 nutritive properties of Crustacea and shell-fish, 

 they are in general greatly overrated. In the 

 oyster, for example, 100 parts of the flesh yield 

 about 88 water, and only 12 of solid or nutritive 

 matter ; while 100 parts of butcher-meat yield, on 

 an average, from 25 to 28. 



Milk Preserved Milk Biitter Cheese. 

 These are indirect animal products, all largely 

 consumed in every country, whether savage or 

 civilised. Milk, which is obtained only from the 

 class Mammalia, and intended by nature for the 

 nourishment of their young, is the basis of the 

 whole furnishing, according to certain changes, 

 which it 'readily undergoes, cream, butter, curd, 

 cheese, whey, and so forth. Intended by nature as 

 the sole food of the young mammal, it necessarily 

 contains all the elements of respiration and nutri- 

 tion. Blood, flesh, bones, and every other tissue, 

 are formed from its elements : it is, in fact, a per- 

 fect food that is, perfect in its kind, up to a cer- 

 tain stage of animal development. Its proximate 

 constituents are casein, butter, sugar of milk, various 

 salts, and water ; and these differ not only in 

 various animals, as the following analyses will 

 shew, but also according to the food, the age, and 

 the period after parturition. Thus : 



Such analyses, however, are to be regarded only as 

 approximations, for the food, age, &c. must ever 

 be taken into account. A cow fed on carrots, for 

 example, yields a milk containing more casein and 

 butter than when she is fed on beet-root. The 

 salts consist chiefly of phosphates of lime, mag- 

 nesia, soda, and iron. Milk as an article of diet 

 for adults is obtained in Britain almost solely 

 from the cow; goat and ewe milk being only 



748 



occasionally used in the preparation of cheese ; 

 whilst that of the ass is partaken of by invalids. 



When milk is mixed with about one-third of it 

 weight of sugar, and evaporated in vacuo to the 

 consistence of thin honey, the preparation knowr 

 as preserved or condensed milk is obtained. This 

 has recently become an important manufacture ir 

 Switzerland, Bavaria, England, and Ireland. It 

 preserved in tin cans, and remains perfectly fresl 

 for many months, during even the hottest seasons i 

 the year. When diluted with twice its bulk of water, 

 it makes a good milk of ordinary strength, greatly 

 superior in quality to the milk often supplied to 

 the inhabitants of towns and cities, and admirably 

 adapted for the nourishment of infants deprived of 

 their ordinary food. 



Referring the reader to the article DAIRY for 

 the management and preparation of milk, cream, 

 butter, cheese, and the like, we shall here merely 

 advert to the respective dietetic peculiarities of 

 these preparations. Cow's milk, when obtained 

 from healthy, well-fed, and properly kept animals, 

 is a very useful and valuable article of food, as well 

 for adults as for children. Its principal drawback, 

 according to Pereira, is the difficult digestibility of 

 its fatty constituent, or butter an objection, how- 

 ever, which can be got rid of by using it in the 

 skimmed state. Under the name of milk-diet, it is 

 extensively employed in conjunction with bread, 

 oatmeal, rice, sago, potatoes, and other farinaceous 

 substances, and forms in every case a readily 

 assimilated and nutritive aliment. Cream consists 

 of butter, curd, and serum or whey, and though 

 less digestible than milk, properly so called, is not 

 so liable to this objection as butter. Fresh butter 

 is more easily digested than salt ; and whether 

 salted or fresh, preference is always to be given to 

 that most recently prepared. Whey is chiefly 

 composed of water and lactic acid, with a slight 

 proportion of casein, butter, and sugar. It is 

 therefore very slightly nutrient, but forms an 

 excellent diluent in inflammatory complaints, and 

 also gently promotes the secretions. Butter-milk, 

 as containing the casein, the sugar, and the salts 

 of milk, must possess nutritive properties. It is 

 deserving of wider adoption, both as an article of 

 diet, and as a cooling and agreeable beverage. 

 Curd is less easily digested than cream ; but more 

 so than butter. It consists mainly of casein, and 

 this from fresh milk yields 54-83 carbon, 7-15 

 hydrogen, 15-63 nitrogen, and 22-39 oxygen and 

 sulphur. Cheese, or casein dried, and having prob- 

 ably undergone some chemical change during 

 the process of 'ripening/ is generally very difficult 

 of digestion. It usually contains a considerable 

 proportion of the fatty part of the milk, and in 

 some cases is made almost entirely from cream, 

 as in the double Gloucester and Stilton cheeses. 

 Cheese made from cow's milk is more easily 

 digested than that from goat's milk ; and the 

 richer or more oleaginous the cheese, the more 

 easily is it digested. Ripe cheese is preferable to 

 that which is green or immature, and also to that 

 which is partially decayed. 



Animal fat, like the oil of vegetables, consists 

 essentially of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Con- 

 taining about 80 per cent, of carbon, heat-pro- 

 ducing is one of its main functions, and thus is 

 explained the fact, why the inhabitants of cold 

 climates can consume with impunity so much of 

 this aliment. All fatty matters are digested with 



