16 MILK AND ITS HYGIENIC RELATIONS 



will not be out of place. Only the chemical constituents will be 

 considered in this chapter. 



The colostrum of the cow appears to show the same type of 

 change from the average sample as in the human species. As it is 

 not used for infants, it will be sufficient to quote a few figures, 

 confining the discussion more definitely to the composition of 

 human colostrum. 



Konig gives the following figures for the percentage composition 

 of cows' colostrum : 



Per cent. 



Water ....... 75*07 



Caseinogen . . . . . . 4-19 



Albumin and globulin . . . 12-99 



Fat ... ... 3-97 



Lactose ... . 2-28 



Ash 1-53 



The protein figures are of especial interest if they are compared 

 with the work on the biological aspect of the milk-proteins which 

 is considered later. 



Engel and Dennemark investigated the milk of three cows. 

 They found that the physical characteristics of colostrum were 

 most marked in the first three days, and during this period marked 

 differences in the distribution of the nitrogen occurred. If milk 

 fever supervened, the peculiar distribution of nitrogen was main- 

 tained over a longer period. 



These authors give the following figures : 



Fat. 



Total N. 

 N. in whey 

 N. in casein 



At First 



Per cent. 



4-65 



2-1662 

 0-6713 



Falling by ssth Day to 



Per cent. 



2*70 



0-4667 



0-0902 



0-3764 



The figures given by Sassenhagen for the fat content of colostrum 

 show variations extending between i-i per cent, and 3-6 per cent. 

 in one case 7-8 per cent. The fat estimations were only an incidental 

 part of the work, and it is not advisable to lay any stress upon 

 them, as it is not stated that the samples were average mixed 

 samples. Taken with the figures already given, they show, however, 

 that the fat content of colostrum does not appear to exceed that 

 of the later milk, and that it is equally, if not more, variable. 



Capobianco, who deals fully with the literature upon this 

 matter, finds that the osmotic pressure of colostrum is above the 

 figure usually given for average milk. 



