ON MILK AND ITS ADULTEKATION. 
179 
intimately in composition animal fibrin and gluten, which, may 
be termed the fibrin of wheaten flour. Like the latter, curd 
and albumen of milk are used in the animal economy for 
building up the muscular parts of the body. Milk-sugar and 
the fatty matters, or butter, on the other hand, are free from 
nitrogen, and are used in the animal economy to feed 
respiration and with it to keep up the usual warmth of the 
body, which varies but little throughout the year. 
Milk may be looked upon as a kind of model food ; and 
hence it is of great importance that especially the young 
should be supplied with the unadulterated fluid, which, it is 
to be feared, is regarded by many of the poor more as an 
article of luxury than one of necessity. 
Breeders of high-priced short-horn bulls and cows know full 
well how essential it is to the early development of a sound 
and strong frame, round which the flesh and fat may be after- 
wards deposited in symmetrical forms, not to stint the calf in 
milk, for they now very generally keep cows as nurses, for the 
especial purpose of providing an extra quantity of milk to 
their young stock. 
There can hardly be any doubt that the quantity of milk 
which the poor folk in town and country are in a condition to 
allow to their families is miserably deficient. It is well to 
remember that the foundation of the adult is laid in childhood 
and youth, and to take care that the scanty allowance supplied 
to the poor by the retail dealer should be of good quality, 
and not, as is generally the case, shamefully adulterated with 
water. 
A variety of conditions affect materially the quantity and 
quality of milk. 
Thus the season of the year and the amount and kind of 
food given to cows influence the yield and quality of their 
milk ; again the race or breed and size of the animal to a 
great extent affect the yield and quality of milk. 
Generally speaking, small races, or small individuals of 
the larger races, give the richest milk from the same kind of 
food. Where good quality is the main object, Alderneys or 
Guernseys unquestionably are the cows that ought to be kept, 
for they give a richer cream than any other kind in common 
use in this country; but of course Alderneys are not the 
most profitable stock for cow-keepers in towns, with whom 
the Yorkshire cow, essentially a short-horn, is the favourite 
breed, as it surpasses all others for the quantity 4of milk it 
yields. The milk, however, compared with that of the 
"Alderney or Ayrshire cow, is more watery and less rich in 
butter, and therefore not well suited for dairies in which 
butter and cheese are made. 
