on Milk and Milk-Products. 
385 
which, with regard to its component parts, behaviour, and 
medicinal properties, is very similar, not to say identical with 
Koumiss, a somewhat better-known preparation, which also 
consists of fermented milk. Kephir grains grow very con- 
siderably when kept in contact with milk ; in other liquids a 
similar result has not been observed. 
Slimy Fermentation. — In some parts of Norway and the north 
of Sweden people are said to be rather fond of ropy milk, and 
use it as a regular article of diet. According to accounts 
repeatedly published, the ropy milk is prepared either by giving 
the cows grass or hay containing a plant, the botanical name of 
which is Pinguicula vulgaris, or by rubbing with this plant the 
interior of the vessels used for storing the milk, or by im- 
mersing a bunch of it in the milk. The milk then gets ropy, 
the cream is prevented from rising, the taste is insipid, and 
after some time it becomes slightly sour. The keeping quality 
however is said to be very great. 
In other countries where a taste for milk which cannot be 
measured by the quart, but which has to be sold by the yard, 
does not exist, milk getting slimy or ropy is looked upon as 
rather an unfortunate occurrence. Almost the only account to 
which such milk could be turned would be to churn it, but even 
then some difficulties would be met with. The yield of butter 
would be very small, and the keeping quality, as well as the 
taste, decidedly inferior. 
With regard to slimy and ropy milk the most divergent 
opinions have been brought forward. As to the time when 
the irregularity is more generally observed, some pronounce 
that it is during the summer, while others find the winter more 
favourable to it, and a third set of persons say that the time of 
year makes no difference. As to the causes which, according 
to different writers, account for milk getting ropy, we find them 
as varied as can possibly be : — illness of the mammary glands, 
inflammation of the udder, cold of the same organ contracted by 
lying down on the ground, atmospheric influences, fodder grown 
on certain soil or containing certain plants, or fodder badly har- 
vested, inferior crushed grain, distillery wash, damp and badly 
ventilated milk rooms, unclean rooms and utensils, and others. 
The remedies suggested are equally varied, such as treating 
the cows with medicines composed of aromatic herbs, laxatives, 
common salt, spirits of salts in a decoction of linseed, letting 
blood, change of diet, disinfection and change of milk-room, and 
thorough cleansing of all articles and utensils which are likely 
to come in contact with the milk. 
These alleged causes of, and suggested remedies for, ropy 
milk point to two assumptions, viz. either that the milk when 
