MIL 
MIL 
Geometrical paces. Yards. 
The great league of France. 3000 or 4400 
Mile of Poland 3000 or 4400 
of Spain 3248 or 5028 
of Germany 4000 or 5866 
of Sweden 5000 or 7233 
of Denmark 5000 or 7233 
of Hungary 6000 or 8800 
MILIUM, in botany, millet grass, a 
genus of the Triandria Digynia class and 
order. , Natural order of Gramina, Grami- 
neai, or Grasses. Essential character : calyx 
two-valved, one-flowered; valves almost 
equal ; corolla very short ; stigmas pencil- 
form. There are twelve species, of which 
M. elFusum, common millet grass, has a 
perennial creeping root; slender culms, 
three or four feet high ; leaves from four to 
seven inches or a foot in length, thin and 
weak, very finely striated their whole 
length ; panicles from four inches to a foot 
in length, nearly upright, spreading and 
loose : it appears to he much scattered, from 
the various lengths , of the pedicels, which 
grow in whorls. This plant is distinguished 
from the panics, to which it has the greatest 
affinity, by having a calyx of two valves 
only. Native of most parts of Europe, in 
woods. 
MILK, the fluid designed for the nourish- 
ment of young animals, and which is se- 
creted in particular organs by the females 
of the class Mammalia, is a white opaque 
fluid, having a sweetish taste; and a specific 
gravity somewhat greater tlian that of wa- 
ter. When milk newly taken from the 
animal is allowed to remain at rest, it sepa- 
rates into two parts ; a thick white fluid, 
called cream, collects on the surface, and 
the fluid beneath is more watery. The 
quantity of cream obtained from milk, and 
the time it requires to separate, vary accord- 
ing to the nature of the milk, and the tem- 
perature of the atmosphere. When the 
milk is allowed to stand after the spontane- 
ous separation of the cream, it suffers ano- 
ther change ; it first becomes acescent, and 
then coagulates. When the coagulum is 
pressed gently, a serous fluid is forced out, 
and the remainder is the caseous part of 
milk, or pure cheese. Butter and cheese 
are obtained artificially : the former by the 
operation of churning, and the milk which 
remains after the butter has been separated, 
or, as it is called, the butter-milk, has all the 
properties of milk from which the cream 
has been separated. Cheese is obtained by 
the addition of rennet to the milk, which is 
prepared by digesting the inner coat of the 
stomach of young animals, especially that of 
the calf. The quality of the cheese de- 
pends upon the quantity of cream that re- 
mains in the milk. The best cheese is ob- 
tained by coagulating the milk at the tem- 
perature of 100“, and expressing the whey 
slowdy and gradually, without breaking 
down the curd. Whey expressed from coa- 
gulated milk, if boiled, and the whole curd 
precipitated, becomes transparent and co- 
lourless. By slow evaporittion it deposits 
crystals of sugar, with some muriate of pot- 
ash, muriate of soda, and phosphate of lime. 
The liquid which remains after the separa- 
tion of the salts, is converted, by cooling, 
into a gelatinous substance. If whey be 
kept, it becomes sour, by the formation of 
an acid, which is the lactic acid ; and it is 
to this that the spontaneous coagulation of 
milk after it remains at rest is owing. Milk 
may, after it is sour, be fermented, and it 
will yield a vinous intoxicating liquor. This 
is practised by the Tartars on the milk of 
the mare. Milk is likewise susceptible of 
the acetous fermentation. The results of 
very minute experiments prove that tire 
constituent parts which enter into the com- 
position of milk are 
Milk 
Oil 
Curd 
Gelatine 
Sugar of milk 
Muriate of soda 
Muriate of potash 
Phosphate of lime 
Sulphur. 
The milk of different animals is found to 
be composed of nearly the same substances; 
but the proportions vary so much, as to 
give them very different properties. We shall 
give a brief account of the analyses of the 
French chemists Deyeux and Parmen tier. 
1. Every kind of milk, when left at rest, 
produces cream on the surface ; but it is 
different in the milk of different animals. In 
that of the CO w it is copious, thick,and yellow. 
In women’s milk the quantity is small, and 
it is white and more liquid. Goat’s milk 
produces abundance, and it is thicker and 
whiter than that from the cow. Ewe’s 
milk produces as much as that of the cow, 
and of nearly the same colour. The cream 
from asses’ milk resembles women’s. In 
mare’s milk it is very fluid, and similar in 
colour and consistence to good cow’s milk 
before the cream appears on the surface. 
2. Butter obtained from the milk of dif- 
ferent animals is thus composed. That of 
the cow differs in colour ; but has always 
much consistency. That from women’s 
