314 
CHEMISTRY OF MILK.—NO. 3. 
and eat less, and keep in better condition than 
any cattle he ever had; but the cow disap¬ 
pointed him in her dairy qualities, all she eats 
going to make flesh instead of milk. 
The color of these animals is a bluish grey 
or roan, slightly inclined to white. We recom¬ 
mend them to the attention of the curious in 
such things. 
CHEMISTRY OF MILK.—No. 3 
I have referred to the fact that milk may be¬ 
come poisonous, or acquire deleterious proper¬ 
ties suddenly through the influence of emotion; 
it may also acquire dangerous properties through 
other channels. One of the most remarkable 
instances of poisonous milk occurs in the cows 
of the southwestern states. It is called “ milk 
sickness.” It is an endemic disease and appears 
in the deep land coves where the spurs of 
mountains shut in the more level areas. The 
flesh and milk are both poisonous; but the poi¬ 
son in the former product is confined to the oily 
part, or cream. Few persons recover from the 
effects of the poison, and when life is prolonged, 
the individual drags out a miserable existence. 
This disease shows conclusively that the secre¬ 
tion is not independent of extraneous influences, 
and is more or less affected by those causes 
which disorder the system generally. 
I shall now proceed to the consideration of 
those matters which relate to the composition 
of milk. 
In determining the composition of milk, I fol¬ 
lowed Haidlen’s method. Four hundred grains 
of milk are taken. It is mixed with 100 grains 
of gypsum and then boiled; the milk coagu¬ 
lates ; is then dried perfectly in a water Dath or 
sand bath upon white paper, which is allowed 
to brown slightly; it is dried until it ceases to 
lose weight. The loss it has sustained is wa¬ 
ter. The dry pulverised mass is exhausted of 
oil or butter by strong ether. The ether is dis¬ 
sipated by heat, and the remainder weighed. 
The solid residue is then acted upon by com¬ 
mon alcohol which dissolves the sugar and a 
little extract. The casein of cheese is found by 
adding together the results and subtracting the 
sum from the dry mass. To confirm the result, 
400 grains of skimmed milk is taken and coag¬ 
ulated with a drop or two of sulphuric acid. 
The whey is removed by straining, the coagu- 
lum dried until it ceases to lose weight. It 
contains from one and a half to two grains of 
butter, which is dissolved out by ether. This 
last method, I have found agrees with the former 
when both are conducted with due care. The 
ash, or saline matter, is determined by drying 
and burning 1,000 grains of milk, of the same 
milking. I use this ash for an inorganic analysis. 
The results obtained are regarded as accu¬ 
rate, or certainly as very close approximations 
to the true composition. This method certainly 
gives results which are comparable. I should 
remark here that the first three analyses were 
conducted without the aid of gypsum, the rest 
were made as stated above. 
The first milk which I submitted to an exam¬ 
ination was obtained while the cow was feed¬ 
ing upon grass, and about the middle of No¬ 
vember. The feed at this time was not abun¬ 
dant, but pumpkins were given every day, 
which, however, did not appear to add to the 
quantity of milk which the cow had been giv¬ 
ing. The milk at this time had the following 
composition:—Specific gravity 1,032. Water 
being 1,000. 
Water,. 85.80 
Solid matter,.15.55 
Batter,.5.76 
Casein,...5 02 
Sugar and extract,.3.83 
A quantity of the same milk was churned; it 
gave per pound of milk 457 grains of butter, 
which is equivalent to about 5.9 per cent, after 
deducting the casein—perhaps the casein was 
not entirely removed. 
The composition of the grass cut the 20th of 
November, I found as followsFive hundred 
grains well dried in a water bath, gave 160.4 
grains, or water 339.6 grains. Ash, 11.32. One 
hundred grains of dry grass gave of 
Chlorophyl, or wax,.5.08 
Sugar and watery extract,.21.60 
Fibre,.73.32 
The ash or inorganic part gave of 
Silex,. 46.12 
Earthy phosphates,.16.20 
Carbonate of lime,. 10.60 
Magnesia,.0.86 
Potash,.14.63 
Soda,.9.40 
Sulphuric acid,.0.47 
Chlorine,. 0.06 
The ash of the milk gave nearly 50 per cent, 
of earthy and alkaline phosphates. The anal¬ 
ysis of the grass is given mainly to show its 
composition at this season of the year. The 
chlorophyl, or wax, is regarded by Professor 
Thompson as important in respiration. It is 
not supposed to furnish the material from which 
the butter is formed. Its amount is diminished 
in passing through the system and what is not 
consumed in respiration appears unchanged in 
the solid excrements. The sugar and soluble 
parts in water, as albumen, furnish the materi¬ 
als from which the milk is derived. 
Having a quantity of turnip tops intermixed 
