KOUMISS. 289 



Water, ... 88*915 



Fat, 3-088 



Casein, 2-904 



Lactalbumin, ... ... ... "186 



Peptone, '067 



Sugar, 2-685 



Mineral matter, *708 



Alcohol, '. -720 



Lactic acid, '727 



100KXK) 



With regard to the specific gravity of kephir, we have no data. 

 Probably it is a little lower than that of milk, but not much different. 



Struve found in kephir grains which he had examined 11*21 per cent 

 of water, 3*99 per cent of fat, 51-69 per cent of albuminoids, of which 

 10*98 per cent were soluble in water, 10*32 per cent soluble in ammonia, 

 and 30*39 per cent soluble in dilute soda solution, and 33*11 per cent 

 in an insoluble condition. 



If it be desired to keep kephir longer than three or four days, it must 

 be laid in ice. G. Marpmann recommends that the kephir be sterilized 

 as soon as it has acquired the desired condition, in order that the process 

 of fermentation may be stopped. 



The kephir ferment may be kept for half a year or longer, without 

 losing its vitality, if it be thoroughly dried in the sun in a cool dry place. 

 At present kephir can be easily obtained in every large town in Germany. 



135. Koumiss. Koumiss, or, as it has been called, milk-wine, 

 (vinum lactis, or lac fermentatum), is milk which has undergone 

 alcoholic fermentation. In taste and smell it resembles butter-milk, 

 or slightly sour whey, and presents a foamy appearance. It contains 

 its casein in the form of a very fine floating curd. Koumiss was 

 originally prepared in the steppes of the south of Russia and Asia, 

 where it has been used for hundreds of years by the different 

 nomadic tribes inhabiting these districts. It is chiefly prepared 

 from mares' milk, but may also be prepared from skimmed cows' 

 milk. The best koumiss prepared from mares' milk is said to be 

 that manufactured in the Russian province of Orenburg. Good 

 koumiss is in every respect very similar to kephir, although inferior 

 to it, and is used very much in the same way. In Russia, mares' -milk 

 koumiss has been long used for sleeplessness, and it was formerly 

 the custom in summer to send invalids undergoing the koumiss cure 



(M175) T 



