D A I 



560 



DAL 



IDairy. 



Mtdi-.il 

 iju.tliues 

 chee»e. 



Bf 



Putrefac- 

 tion. 



gent and experienced Dr Anderson. He is disposed to 

 ascribe to this, at least in a great degree, even the stri- 

 king difference that exists betwixt Gloucestershire and 

 Cheshire cheese ; for the milk, he says, of which these 

 two species are made, differs very little. It is generally 

 supposed that richness, or the proportion of oily mat- 

 ter contained in cheese, is the cause of its agreeable fla- 

 vour; but Dr Anderson cannot admit this to be the 

 fact ; for Parmesan and the small round Dutch cheeses 

 are both deemed by most persons to be of the best fla- 

 vour, and yet they are made of skimmed milk. Dr 

 Anderson had, in his own house, a small round Dutch 

 cheese made of skimmed milk, which, to the palates of 

 most people who tasted it, appeared, he says, richer and 

 more pleasing than very excel! ent North Wiltshire cheese. 

 He had likewise seen cheeses made of the same kind of 

 milk with the Suffolk cheeses, " which had nothing of 

 that horny hardness and indigestible quality for which 

 they are remarkable." 



As the milk of such animals as live solely on vegeta- 

 bles is of an intermediate quality, betwixt animal and 

 vegetable food, we may infer, that the cheese prepared 

 from this milk will partake of the same nature ; and it 

 is understood to constitute the strongest and most nutri- 

 tive part of the milk. But when separated from the 

 other parts, it is probably less digestible. 



Pure cheese, or that which is dry, and has been 

 prepared from skimmed milk, is very indigestible ; but 

 that which has had left in it a portion of the oily or bu- 

 tyraceous parts, is understood to be less so, and more 

 nutritious, 



Cheese is frequently eaten after having been toasted, 

 by which means it is deprived of a portion of the oily 

 matters it contains, and the other parts are made to ad- 

 here more closely together. This food can be digested 

 pretty well by stomachs that are good ; but it is certain- 

 ly improper for the weak, and such as are liable to dys- 

 peptic affections. Probably, however, the small quan- 

 tities of cheese that are usually eaten at the tables of the 

 rich, have very little effect either one way or other. 



Cheese is liable to putrefaction ; and as this advances, 

 becomes acrid and more stimulant, partly from the evo- 

 lution of an empyreumatic oil and other substances, and 

 partly from the numerous insects which are generated 

 in it while in this state. It can now scarcely be eaten 

 in such quantity as to be esteemed an aliment, and is 

 only used as a kind of seasoning or relish. It is thought 

 to excite the stomach to the digestion of other food. 

 Ewe cheese digests more easily than that which has 

 been made from cow's milk, but is less nutritious ; and 

 goat cheese is more easily digested than either, but is 

 also less nourishing. Physicians advise cheese to be 

 eaten only in small quantities, and quote the following 

 Latin verse : 



" Caseus Me bonus qucm dat avara manus." 



* That cheese is best which is given with a sparing 

 hand." Some of them condemn the use of it altogether, 

 and refer us to the old maxim : 



" Caseus est nequam quia concoquii omnia se quam." 



A maxim which shews that cheese has been long 

 thought to be a stimulant, assisting in the digestion of 

 other food, whilst it itself remained undigested: an idea, 

 however, which is entirely without foundation. See 

 Thomson's Chemistry. Murray's Chemistry. Parmen- 

 tier and Deyeux Stir le lent. Marshall's Rural Economy 

 vf Norfolk. Marshall's Rural Economy of Gloucester- 

 shire. Farmer's Magazine, vol. iv. Anderson's Agri- 



Dalecarlia. 



cultural Recreations. Papers of the Bath Agricultural Dair 

 Society. Rudge's Survey of Gloucestershire. Nouveau 

 cours d' Agriculture. Sir John Sinclair's Account of the 

 Scotch Systems of Husbandry. Smith's Survey of Gallo- 

 way. French Encyclopedic Aiton's Ayrshire, (x) 



DAIS, a genus of plants of the class Decandria, and 

 order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 214 1 . 



DAL. See Dalecarlia. 



DALBERGIA, a genus of plants of the class Diadel- 

 phia, and order Decandria. See Botany, p. 279- 



DALEA, a genus of plants of the class Diadelphia, 

 and order Decandria. See Botany, p. 279. 



DALECARLIA, Dalland, Thalland, or Da- 

 larne, is a province in the kingdom of Sweden, which is 

 bounded on the east and north by Norway, Helsinge- 

 land, and Gestrickland ; and on the south-west and 

 south by Wermeland and Westmannland. It stretches 

 from a little southward of the river Dal, which is some- 

 what beyond the 60th degree of north latitude, nearly to 

 the 62 d degree ; and if we suppose it to reach to the 

 Gulf of Bothnia, it extends over five degrees of longi- 

 tude. 



Dalecarlia, as its name imports, has a great variety of 

 hill and dale; and besides several lakes of different sizes, 

 it is watered by two large rivers, and a great number of 

 small streams. The principal rivers are the Dal, the Kivers. 

 Ljusne, and the Clara. The Dal, which rises among 

 the mountains on the frontiers of Norway, runs through 

 the southern part of the province. It is a slow running 

 river, and is too shallow for the purposes of navigation. 

 From the great and sudden swells to which it is liable, 

 it has been found impracticable to build over it a stone 

 bridge ; but as the road to Fahlun crosses it twice, this 

 defect has been ingeniously supplied by a wooden bridge 

 of a very singular construction. A large stage formed of 

 huge square trees, floats so that the upper part is just on a 

 level with the surface of the river, and they are so connec- 

 ted with the banks that they cannot be carried away by 

 the stream. A close row of square trees, about 1 2 feet long 

 and 9 inches thick, and lying in the direction of the ri- 

 ver, is fixed on the middle of the stage, and forms a 

 floating bridge, across which a man may walk without 

 wetting his feet ; when it is loaded with a carriage, it 

 sinks a few inches. It is obvious that this bridge can 

 be crossed with the same facility whether the water be 

 high or low. It is particularly secure, and has a wood- 

 en parapet on both sides. 



The river Ljusne, which waters the northern part of 

 the province, is nearly as large as the Dal, and has its 

 origin in the same mountainous tract. The Clara has 

 its origin among the same mountains, and after running 

 south through Wermeland, discharges itself into the 

 Lake Wenner. 



The general character of Dalecarlia is that of a moun- General 

 tainous country, excepting the southern part of the pro- aspect, 

 vince, near the river Dal. The highest mountain is 

 Fjall, in the parishes of Lima and Siirna, near Norway, 

 which rises nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 It is a part of the great chain called the Doffrine hills. Mountains. 

 The rest are much smaller, and are in general round- 

 backed knolls, covered with forests of pine. Two sub- 

 ordinate ranges of hills stretch from the great chain al- 

 ready mentioned, at the place where Fjall stands, and 

 cross Sweden in a south-easterly direction, gradually 

 decreasing both in height and size. One of them pas- 

 ses across the north of Dalecarlia, which it separates 

 from Herjeodal, Helsingland, and Gestrickland. The 

 other, which is the most southern, after running be- 

 tween Wermeland and Dalecarlia, takes a southerly 





