412 Abstract Report of A(jricultural Discussions. 
Composition of the Milk of— 
Cow. 
Human. 
Ass. 
Goat. 
Ewe. 
Carnivora 
(Dog)- 
Water .. .. 
Butter 
Milk sugar 
Mineral mat-1 
ters (ash) / 
87 '02 
3- 13 
4'48 
4- 77 
•CO 
100 '00 
88*94 
2- 67 
3- 92 
4- 33 
•14 
91-G5 
•11 
1^82 
6^08 
•34 
1 
5-54 
4-08 
4- 52 
5- 8g| 
7G-70 
1-20 
13-37 
7-10 
rc3 
83-10 
4- 45 
5- 76 
5-73 
•96 
67- 20 
13- 30 
14- 60 
3*42 
1-48 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
The milk of carnivorous animals is very much the richer in all the 
various constituents, especially in casein or curd. No other food will 
at all compare with it. Solid butcher's-mcat contains less real nutri- 
ment and more ■n-ater than this description of milk. This will explain 
at once the extreme difficulty of bringing up a puppy by hand. No 
kind of food is sufficiently concentrated adequately to provide for the 
noiu'ishment of a pujipy, strong beef-tea being perhaps the most 
available substitute for that purpose. It is not only the amount of 
cui-d, but also that of butter, which is so extremely large in the milk 
of a bitch. The milk of carnivorous animals has another peculiarity, 
viz. that it contains no milk-sugar at all. Milk-sugar is very abun- 
dant in the milk of herbivorous animals ; and, cm-iously enough, it 
makes its appearance in the milk of carnivorous animals when, by 
domestication, they become gradually accustomed to bread diet, and 
increases mth the increased amount of bread and starchy food supplied 
to the animal. This shows the iotimate connexion between the food 
and the composition of the milk, 
Compared with the milk of carnivorous animals, that of the ass 
appears extremely poor ; whereas it shows, according to the table 
before you, as much as 91t per cent, of water, it contains but little 
casein, scarcely any butter, and a small quantity of ash. On the other 
hand, it is, comparatively sjieaking, rich in milk-sugar, which is a very 
digestible material ; hence, on the Continent, it is used as medicine in 
cases of indigestion, especially for children, who take a teasi)oonfid or 
two at a time ; as an aperient medicine, I do not know any so wholesome 
for invalids as this lacteine, as it is called. The composition of the milk 
of a well-fed donkey would, liowever, be probably more rich than the 
sample analysed, which was taken from a German donkey, which, like 
Ii-ish donkeys, lived on the road-side, certainly not on the richest kind 
of food. 
Let me now notice the composition of two specimens of ewe's milk 
quite recently analysed by me. The first sample I had the pleasm-e 
of analysing for his Grace the Dvike of Eichmond. Having lost many 
lambs in his flock, his Grace thought it probable that the cause of 
this was that the milk was poor, or contained something injvu-ious. 
On carefully examining the milk with the microscope, I found it per- 
fectly normal, showing no sym2)tom of disease. My analysis also 
