HUMAN MILK. 



317 



The taste is rarely, if ever, sweet, but rather saline. The 

 reaction to litmus paper is almost always alkaline. The acidity 

 is about 3-0, and, in the author's experience, has varied from 

 1-3 to 5-5, while Bosworth gives 3 to 6. 



Composition Human milk appears to be more variable in 

 its composition than that of the cow. This is probably due to 

 the fact that, while the cow is forced to adopt ordered habits and 

 leads a life which is very regular, the many occupations and 

 duties of woman do not permit of this. 



Table LXXVI. gives the mean composition of human milk 

 according to recent observers. 



TABLE LXXVI. MEAN COMPOSITION OF HUMAN MILK. 



* Leeds gives the average composition as : 

 Water, . 86-733 per cent. Protein, 



Fat, . 4-131 Ash, . 



Susar, . 6-936 



1 -995 per cent. 

 0-201 



His figures, however, do not agree with the average deduced from his 

 analyses. There is internal evidence that his analyses are not so reliable 

 as the other series, and comparatively little weight must be given to this 

 series. He examined sixty -four samples derived from eighty women, some 

 of his samples being the mixed milk of six women. 



