CHAPTER XXVI. 



MILK SUGAR. 



MILK SUGAR or lactose (C^H^On + H 2 O) is probably 

 found in the milk of most mammals, and, so far as known, 

 is found nowhere else in nature. Richmond has shown 

 that the milk of the goat, the ass and the Egyptian 

 gamoose or water-buffalo contain lactose. Richmond and 

 Pappel also found that the sugar in the milk of the 

 gamoose in winter differed from lactose. This sugar they 

 called "Tawfikose." Sugar of mares' milk has the prop- 

 erty of easily undergoing alcoholic fermentation, a property 

 not possessed by lactose from cows' milk. According to 

 Richmond and Pappel, sugar of human milk is not identical 

 with that of cows' milk. The milk sugar of commerce 

 is derived from cows' milk of which it forms about five 

 per cent. It is but slightly sweet, hardly a hundredth as 

 sweet as cane sugar. 



This product is used in modifying milk for feeding in- 

 fants and invalids, as a diluent in various strong drugs, 

 in the preparation of medicinal powders, and in the manu- 

 facture of pentanitro-lactose, which forms a part of some 

 high explosives. 



History and Development of Milk-sugar Manufac- 

 turing. Milk sugar is said to have been discovered by 

 accident early in the eighteenth century by a peasant 

 in Switzerland who was making cheese. The cheese 

 having been hung up in a bag to drain for some time, 

 this observing Swiss noticed a few crystals that had been 



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