Chap. 35.] REMEDIES DEIUYED TKOM BUTTER. 
323 
CHAP. 35. TWENTY- FIVE REMEDIES DERIYED FROM BUTTEB. 
From milk, too, butter is produced ; held as the most delicate 
of food among barbarous^^ nations, and one which distinguishes^^ 
the wealthy from the multitude at large. It is mostly made 
from cows' milk, and hence its name ; but the richest butter 
is that made from ewes' milk. There is a butter made also 
from goats' milk ; but previously to making it, the milk should 
first be warmed, in winter. In summer it is extracted from 
t-he milk by merely shaking it to and fro in a tall vessel, with 
a small orifice at the mouth to admit the air, but otherwise 
closely stopped, a little water^ being added to make it curdle 
the sooner. The milk that curdles the most, floats upon the sur- 
face ; this they remove, and, adding salt to it, give it the name 
of oxygala."^ They then take the remaining part and boil 
it down in pots, and that portion of it which floats on the 
surface is butter, a substance of an oily nature. The more^ 
rank it is in smell, the more highly it is esteemed. "When old, 
it forms an ingredient in numerous compositions. It is of an 
astringent, emollient, repletive, and purgative nature. 
• ^ The people of Germany and Scythia, for instance. 
81 In this passage also it is generally supposed that he refers to the 
nomadic life of barbarous nations, in which multitudes of sheep and 
cattle constituted the chief wealth. It is, however, not improbable that 
he means to say that among the Romans it was only the wealthy who could 
afford to use it. 
^2 Bovrvpov, cow cheese." 
Qy. whether for aquae," "water," we should not read *'acidi" 
here, " sour milk," as at the beginning of the next Chapter ? Beckmann 
suggests aceti," "vinegar." — I£ist, Inv. I. 505, Bohris Ed, 
8^ Beckmann says on this passage, " What Pliny says respecting oxygala 
is attended with difficulties : and 1 am fully persuaded that his words are 
corrupted, though I find no variations marked in MSS. by which this con- 
jecture can be supported." — KhL Inv. I. 505. He suggests another 
arrangement of the whole passage, but without improving it, for the diflu- 
culty would appear to be totally imaginary ; as it is quite clear that by 
" oxygala," or " sour milk," Pliny means the thickest part of the curd, 
which is first removed and then salted, forming probably a sort of cream 
cheese. Though his meaning is clear, he may very possibly give an 
erroneous description of the process. 
8^ The remark of Holland on this passage is, curious — " Some would 
amend this place, and for ' magis,* * more,' put * minus,' Mess,' in a con- 
trary sense ; but I suppose he writeth in regard of barbarous people, who 
make more account of such ranke butyr \ like as the unci vile Irish in 
these daies." 
Y 2 
