California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



Milk as a Diet. 



ILK being furnished by nntiirfi as the 

 only food for the young miimiudl, dur- 

 ing a certuiu period of its existence, 

 contains all the elements necessary for 

 the nutrition and growth of the body. 

 Out of the caseine of milk are formed the al- 

 bumen and fibrine of the blood, and the pro- 

 teinaceous and gelatinous tissues. The but- 

 ter serves for the formation of the fat, and 

 contributes, with the sugar, to sujiport the 

 animal heat by yielding carbon and hydrogen 

 to be burnt iu the lungs. The earthy salts 

 are necessary for the development of the bony 

 system; the iron is required for the blood cor- 

 pu.scles and the hair; while the alkaline chlo- 

 ride furnishes the hydrochloric acid of the 

 gastric juice. 



It is somewhat strange that a prejudice 

 should exist among the masses in rel.-itiou to 

 milk diet. Milk is in general readily digested 

 by children and is universally conceded to be 

 the very best diet for them. It is too true 

 that when milk contains too much oily matter 

 it often induces various disorders of the di- 

 gestive organs. With such the milk which 

 gives very little cream, or skimmed milk, us- 

 ually agrees. Milk is a very useful and valu- 

 able article of food, both for the child and the 

 adult, and for healthy individuals, as well as 

 for invalids and convalescents. The principal 

 drawback to its employment in many cases is 

 the difficult digestibility of its fatty constitu- 

 ent, butter. 



There is no more innocent food among the 

 ■whole list of aliments than pure milk. It 

 contains bone, muscle, fat, and brain produc- 

 ing substances, in an eminent degree, and 

 just in the proper shade for assimilation. It 

 is true that milk in inordinate quantities, or 

 if the diet be suddenly changed to milk, the 

 per.son will sometimes become constipated, 

 perhaps, or else the reverse. But this is not 

 due so much to the milk as to the change in 

 the diet, for other changes in ordinary food 

 would produce the same result. It is true 

 there are some individuals who, from some 

 peculiar condition of the digestive organs, can 

 not take milk; and this exception will apply 

 to almost every article of food; but these iso- 

 lated facts do not invalidate the general rule. 

 One of the principal objections to a milk 

 diet in the cities is the fear of adulterated or 

 impure milk. This difficulty may be easily 

 obviated bj' knowing of whom you get the 

 milk. It is true that in cities a serious diffi- 

 culty iu this line exists, as there may be a 

 large quantity of milk sold which is the pro- 

 duct of breweries and distilleries; neverthe- 

 less, this IS but a small proportion of the 

 whole quantity used; the great bulk is brought 

 direct from country dairies, and undoubtedly 

 is furnished in a pure condition; or if any- 

 thing be added it will only be water. The 

 customer may test the article sold by the 

 milkman and also that of the dairyman, and 

 in the end it will result in honest dealing. 



Milk is becoming one of the great reliances 

 of the physician iu various cases of disease, 

 especially in typhoid fever, when the patient 

 has become so low as to be incapable of taking 

 solid food. It is used in the form of whey, 

 and is an excellent diluent and nutritive. It 

 may be used in febrile and inflammatory com- 

 plaints. It is sometimes prepared by means 

 of rennet, and is denominated "rennet whey." 

 White wine whey, taken warm and combined 

 with a sudorific regimen, acts powerfully on 

 the skin and is a valuable domestic remedy in 

 slight colds and febrile disorders. Cream of 

 tartar whey is prepared by adding a quarter of 

 an ounce of cream of tartar to a pint of milk. 

 It may be diluted with water and used in fe- 

 brile and dropsical compaints. Milk and 

 lime water forms a very useful remedy in 

 some initable conditions of the stomach and 

 uterine organs. 



Washing the Inside of the Body. — There 

 is no cavity in the body which water is not 

 fitted for if you get it in properly. Why, one 

 of the best things you can do is to wash your 

 blood, and the great folly we commit in going 

 through our lives from childhood to the grave 

 is that we do not wash our blood as we ought. 

 Infusions of coffee, tea, chocolate, or cocoa, 

 or cider, or beer, do not wash the blood, be- 

 cause with the fluid so taken in, something is 

 carried in also which befouls and defiles the 

 blood. Just let a man say to himself, "It ia 

 Saturday night; I have worked hard all the 

 week, and Sunday shall be a day of rest to 

 me. I am now going to give my whole sys- 

 tem, between this and Monday morning, a 

 good thorough washing." So he begins to 

 drink, and drink, and drinks but little at a 

 time, yet between Saturday night and next 

 Monday morning a healthy man can drink, 

 without x'roducing disturbance, a gallon of 

 water. Now let this come into and go through 

 his circulation — through his lungs, and skin, 

 and kidneys, and bowels, and waste materials 

 are caiTied out — and when Monday morning 

 comes, if he jumps out of bed and gives his 

 external skin a good washing, the water that 

 he washes in will be foul. Or if he prefers 

 to test that question even more thoroughly, 

 all he has to do is to take a clean sheet, and 

 wetting it in good, soft, pure water, be wrap- 

 ped up in it for forty-eight or sixty minutes, 

 and then have the sheet washed in a tub of 

 water, and it will color that water so it will 

 look dirty. The man has been washed inside 

 — his blood has been waslied. When you 

 have washed his blood, tissues, bones, nerve, 

 muscle, sinew, membrane and brain, and 

 everything in him, he can defy all pestilence 

 for that week. The washing of a person's 

 outside is twice as necessary as the washing 

 of a person's clothes, and yet there are those 

 who are very particular to have their clothes 

 washed with great care, who are not at all 

 particular to wash themselves. 



AVhat Alcohol Will Do. — It may seem 

 strange, but is nevertheless true, that alcohol, 

 regularly applied to a thrifty farmer's stomach, 

 will remove the boards from the fence, let 

 cattle into his crops, kill his fruit trees, 

 mortgage his farm, and sow his fields with 

 wild oats and thistles. It will take the paint 

 oiT his building, break the glass out of his 

 windows and fill them with rags. It will take 

 the gloss from his clothes and polish from 

 his manners, subdue his reason, arouse his 

 passions, bring sorrow and disgrace ujjon his 

 family, and topple him into a drunkard's 

 grave. It M'ill do this to the artisan and the 

 capitalist, the matron and the maiden, as 

 well as to the farmer; for in its deadly enmity 

 to the human race, alcohol is no respecter of 

 persons. — Temperence Worker. 



Sound Common Sense. — If you are well, let 

 yourself alone. One of the great errors of the 

 age is, we m.edicate the body too much, the 

 mind too little. More persons are destroyed 

 by eating too much than by drinking too 

 much. Gluttony kills more than drunken- 

 ness in civilized society. The best gymnasium 

 is a wood yard, a clearing, or a corn field. A 

 hearty laugh is known, the world over, to be 

 a health promoter; it elevates the spirits, en- 

 livens the circulation, and is marvelously con- 

 tagious in a good sense. Bodily activity and 

 bodily health are inseparable. If the bowels 

 are loose, lie down in bed, remain there, and 

 eat nothing until you are well. The three 

 best medicines in the world are warmth, ab- 

 stinence and repose. — Dr. Hall's Magazine. 



Wet and Det Bathing. — If any one in 

 these days will exercise in the open air, so 

 that each day he wiU perspire moderately, and 

 if he will wear thin uuder-garmeuts, or none 

 at all, and sleep in a cold room, the functions 

 of the skin will sutler little or no impediment, 

 if water is withheld for months. Indeed, 

 bathing is not the only way in which its 

 healthful action can be maintained bj- those 



living under the conditions at present exist- 

 ing. Dry friction over the whole surfoce of 

 the bodj', once a day, or once iu two days, is 

 often of moie service than the application of 

 water. 



The reply of the centenarian to the inquiry 

 to what habit of life he attributed his good 

 health and extreme longevity, that he believed 

 it due to "rubbing himself all over with a cob 

 every night," is significant of an important 

 truth. If invalids and persons of low vitality 

 would use dry friction and Dr. Franklin's 

 "air bath" every day for a considerable time, 

 we are confident they would often be greatly 

 benefited. Cleanliness is next to godliness, 

 no doubt, and a proper and judicious u.se of 

 water is to be commended; but human beings 

 are not amphibious. Nature indicates that 

 the functions of the skin should be kept in 

 order mainly by muscular exerci.se, by excit- 

 ing natural perspiration by labor; and, de- 

 licious as is the bath, and healthful, under 

 proper regulation, it is no substitute for that 

 exercise of the body without which all the 

 functions become abnormal. — 1}>-. Nlclivt. 



Grasshoppers. 



In reply to an inquiry by a correspondent 

 of the New York lixin as to whether the grass- 

 hoppers so destructive to crops in the West 

 are the same as those which infested Egypt, 

 and also whether the seventeen-year is a na- 

 tive of this country or imported, its able agri- 

 cultural editor, Mr. Fuller, says: 



The grasshoppers of the Western States are 

 of an entirely distinct species from those in- 

 habiting Egypt or other portions of the Old 

 World, but belong to the same family as the 

 locust of ancient as well as modern times. 

 Graiishopper is a mere local English name for 

 the hundred or more distinct species which 

 inhabit our country. The one to which you 

 refer as doing so much damage in the Western 

 States is known to entomologists asCaloi-knus 

 sprehis. The seventeen-year locust is not a 

 locust, that is, it does not belong to the grass- 

 hopper or Locuxlida', but to the Ciad(ui, a large 

 species of flies, which have no mandibles for 

 biting or masticating food like the true locust; 

 consequently they do not consume vegetable 

 food, and the only injurj- they do to plants is 

 to puncture the stems and twigs in depositing 

 their eggs. Tney are also native Americans, 

 at least so far as is known to science or his- 

 tory. 



The Preservation of Smoked Meat. — Pro- 

 fessor Nessler says that the keeping qualities 

 of smoked meat do not depend upon the 

 amount of smoking, but upon the uniform 

 and proper drying of the meat. It is of con- 

 siderable advantage also to roll the meat on 

 its removal from the salt, before smoking, in 

 sawdust or bran. By this means the crust 

 formed in smoking will not be so thick; and if 

 moisture condenses upon the meat it remains 

 in the bran, the brown coloring matter of the 

 smoke not penetrating. The best place to 

 keep the meat is in a smoke house in which 

 it remains dry, without drying out entirely as 

 it does when hung in a chimney. 



1 wi I » I 



Recently, at the Polytechnic School in 

 Paris, one of the professors inquired into the 

 habits of the one hundred and sixty students 

 there, and then made a comparison between 

 their devotions to study and to smoke. He 

 found that in each grade of the school the 

 students who did not smoke out-ranked those 

 who did smoke, and that the scholarship of 

 the smokers steadily deteriorated as the smok- 

 ing continued. On account of several trust- 

 worthy reports of such a nature, the Minister 

 of Public Instruction in France issued a cir- 

 cular to the directors of colleges and schools ' 

 forbidding the use of tobacco to students, as 

 injurious to physical and intellectual develop- 

 ment. 



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