274 



XOBMAL PABTUFJTIOX. 



Cow, and altogether is particularly rich, esjoecially soon after lambing. 

 This is well seen in the subjoined analysis, and it will explain the diffi- 

 culty which is experienced in bringing up a Lamb when the Ewe has 

 died soon after parturition : 



Ewe's Milk I Ewe's Milk 



Three Weeks | Six Weeks 



after Lambing. . after Lambing. 



Water 



Fat - 



Casein 



Milk-sugar - 



Mineral Matters (Ash) 



75-00 



12-78 



6-58 



4-66 



•70 

 •67 



•44 

 •00 

 •19 



100^00 



10000 



The milk of the Mare apx3ears to contain the largest proportion of 

 water and the smallest quantity of fat, the milk of the Ass coming next 

 to it in these constituents. This contains little casein, scarcely any fat, 

 and a small quantity of ash. On the other hand, it is comparatively 

 rich in milk-sugar, which is, according to Voelcker, a very digestible 

 material and a good aperient, particularly for children. But of all 

 animals, the Carnivora have the richest milk ; the casein and fat being 

 particularly abundant, and no other food will at all compare with it in 

 these constituents. Solid butcher's meat contains less real nutriment 

 and more water than this description of milk. This explains at once the 

 extreme difficulty of bringing up a Puppy by hand. No kind of food is 

 sufficiently concentrated adequately to provide for the nourishment of 

 a Puppy, strong beef-tea being perhaps the best substitute for that 

 purpose. The milk of Carnivorous animals has another peculiarity, in 

 the very small proportion or entire absence of milk-sugar. This sub- 

 stance is very abundant in the milk of Herbivorous animals ; and when 

 Carnivorous creatures are put on more or less of a vegetable diet, it 

 appears in their milk, and increases as this diet is increased ; whereas, 

 by feeding them entirely on flesh, the sugar vanishes. The proportion 

 of salts is also comparatively large. ^ 



According to the richness of milk in fixed constituents, Colin classes 

 that of animals in the following decreasing order : 



Bitch Sow Woman 



Ewe Cow Ass 



Goat Camel Mare 



Milk is a typical food, and when healthy and in sufficient quantity, 

 contains all the constituents for the maintenance and growth of the 

 young creature." This is particularly noted immediately after birth, 



^ According to a French medical journal, Montbrun-les-Bains, in the Drome, is cele- 

 brated for nurses, who continue to give the breast for two j-ears and more. When one 

 of these women loses her nursling, she takes a puppy-dog instead, which then becomes 

 one of the family. But it has been observed that all these dogs become affected with 

 rickets, and this has led a medical man to conclude that woman's milk is deficient in 

 some principle contained in dog's mik, and that consequen' ■ "he latter might be a cure 

 for rickets. An observation published by him would seem to confirm this view. 



- The mammary secretion may be present in animals without their being in the preg- 

 nant or parturient state, or ever having been so. We have already alluded to Bitches 

 yielding milk without having Puppies. Rabbits have done the same without having 

 been fecinidated, and have reared the young of other Rabbits ; Bitches have done the 

 same. Virgin or barren Ewes have also yielded milk, as have likewise Mares — Mule 

 and Horse — and Fillies. 



