158 Canadian Record of Science. 



This drink has from time immemorial been prepared 

 by tbe wandering tribes of the Steppes of Russia and 

 Central Asia. These people live in tents for nine months 

 in the year. During the winter they bury themselves in 

 pits dug in the ground and covered by a rounded roof of 

 thick felt. Their only wealth consists of herds of small 

 hardy horses. From the milk of their mares they prepare 

 a drink by fermenting it in bags made of smoked horse- 

 hide, the hair being turned outwards. In spring they use 

 as a ferment either the dried casein from strong koumiss, 

 prepared during the preceding autumn and preserved 

 through the winter for the purpose, or a mixture of flour 

 and honey, or a piece of fresh horse skin, or even an old 

 copper coin covered with verdigris. 



During fermentation the milk is frequently agitated, and 

 this agitation is absolutely necessary to the process however 

 carried on. After once a supply of koumiss has been 

 obtained, a fresh supply can be got by adding some of it to 

 fresh milk, in which it at once sets up the alcoholic fermen- 

 tation. 



William de Rubruquis, who wrote a book of travels in 

 Tartary as long ago as 1253, describes this beverage, and 

 tells us that he found it very savoury. " It biteth," says 

 he, " like wine of raspes when it is drunk. After a man has 

 taken a draught thereof it leaveth behind it a taste like that 

 of almond milk and maketh one's inside feel very comfort- 

 able; and it also intoxicateth weak heads." 



Marco Polo also tells us that the Tartars drink " mare's 

 milk prepared in such a way that you would take it for a 

 white wine ; and a right good drink it is." 



The first to employ koumiss as a therapeutical agent was 

 Dr. John Greive, a Scotch surgeon in the Russian army, 

 who gave an account of it in a communication to the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh in 1784, and who employed it with 

 success in wasting diseases. There are now in the Steppes 

 several koumiss establishments where a large number of 

 patients are treated annually. J 



1 Koumiss, G L. Carrick, M.D. 



