£a/t*ry HOji 
Yol. XLII. No. 1746. 
NEW YORK, JULY 14, 1883. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS’ 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
^Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
DR. EDWARD W. MARTIN, 
ASSISTANT SANITARY INSPECTOR OF MILK, HEALTH DE¬ 
PARTMENT, CITY OK NEW YORK. 
Nature of Milk. 
Milk is a white liquid of a bland, sweetish 
taste, a faintly alkaline reaction when fresh, 
and consists of an emulsion of fats in a solu¬ 
tion of caseine, and certain inorganic salts, 
viz., chlorides of potash and soda and phos¬ 
phates of lime, magnesia and iron. U nder the 
microscope it becomes evident that the white 
color of milk is due to the fat globules These 
are small bodies about l-0000 of an inch in di¬ 
ameter, of a yellow color and a pearly gloss. 
Fig. 370 represents cows’ milk magnified 420 
diameters, in fresh, healthy milk the little 
globules are in constant motion and are sep¬ 
arated from each other. Milk has a specific 
gravity of from 1.030 to 1,045. Cows milk 
has a specific gravity of from 1.030 to 1.034 
Cow’s Milk Magnified 420 Diameters.— 
Fig 370. 
and contains in every hundred parts 80 }4 to 
87?,i parts of water, throe to four parts of fat, 
four to live parts of caseine, four to live parts 
of sugar of milk, and two-thirds to threo- 
fourths of a part of salts. On standing, the 
tut rises to the surface in the form of cream, 
and is usually about one-eighth of the bulk 
of the milk used. It is merely a concentration 
of the fats, and consists, in 100 parts, of 50 to 52 
parts of water, 40 to 44 parts of fat, three to 
four parts of caseine, two to three parts of su¬ 
gar and one-third to nne-luilf of a part of salts. 
Fig. 377 represents cream magnified 420 di¬ 
ameters. That part of the milk remaining 
below the cream contains u Little fat together 
with the sugar of milk, the salts and caseine; 
the latter in the form of easeine-sodn. Wheu 
Cream Magnified 420 Diameters, Fig. 377. 
milk is kept for a time the caseine, aetiug as a 
ferment, decomposes the milk sugar into au 
add, culled lactic acid. Lu its turn this acid 
decomposes the caseiue-soda. when the caseine 
separates and sour milk is formed. Fig. 378 
represents skimmed milk magnified 420diame¬ 
ters. 
Milk of Different Animals. 
The milk of some cows is much richer than 
he average stated above, particularly so that 
of the celebrated Jerseys, A cow of this breed, 
whose milk I lately examined, had nearly 80 
parts of cream to the 100 of milk; and the an¬ 
alysis showed that about pouuds of butter 
could have been made from 40 quarts of such 
milk. The milk of different animals varies 
greatly in the amount of water, fats, etc., and 
Skimmed Milk Magnified 420 Diameters. 
-Fig. 878. 
in the following table some of these different 
amounts are compared. 
u 
fee 
d 
00 
s 
aS 
* 
Fat. 
Sugar. 
© 
a 
© 
'!■ 
s 
o 
* 
*3 
__ 35 
si 
Human... 
1.080 
S6.7B 
3.38 
7.58 
1.72 
0.50 
13.21 
Cow...... 
1 .030 
S7.no 
3.20 
4.10 
4.45 
0.75 
12.50 
Goat. 
1.0S35 
84.40 
5.88 
3.119 
5.31 
0.91 
15.51 
Ewe. 
1.0409 
83.28 
5.43 
8.94 
B.97 
0.71 
18.71 
Mare. 
1 .0090 
98.6R 
U.75 
9.75 
1.83 
. « 
11.32 
Ass... 
1,0845 
80.01 
1.85 
5.01 
3.50 
0.52 
10.00 
Elephant. 
1.0813 
79.80 
9.10 
8,59 
2.51 
0.50 
20.70 
Now, upon comparing the results given 
above, we see that there are other milks which 
resemble human milk in their composition 
more closely than that of cows. But as cow's 
milk is so readily obtaiued it becomes the com¬ 
mon substitute for human milk. In different 
count ries, however, the milks of different ani¬ 
mals are used. The camel’s milk is the favor¬ 
ite in Africa, the mare's in Tartars- and Sibe- 
ters.- Fig. 879. 
ria, and iu Chiua, until a comparatively re¬ 
cent date, sows’ milk was the principal one 
consumed. In India the milk of the buffalo is 
preferred to that of the cow; while iu Lapland 
and other northern countries, the reindeer fur¬ 
nishes milk to the inhabitants by whom it is 
largely consumed ami highly esteemed, and iu 
Spain and Italy goats’ milk stands first. 
Elephants, could they be domesticated, 
would be great butter producers. Fig. 379 re¬ 
presents such milk magnified 420 diameters 
The large amount of fat is at. once seen. The 
analysis shows us that we could get about 12 
pounds of butter from 40 quarts of such milk, 
and as the elephant gives at least so quarts a 
day, we would be getting about 22 pouuds of 
butter daily. 
Milk for the Young 
Iu Paris, during the memorable siege, milk 
of any kind could not be obtained. A very 
good substitute was made from a mixture of 
water, 85 parts; olive oil, five parts; sugar, five 
parts ;albumen,four parts,and carbonate of soda 
and salt, one part. Those on being well shaken 
I 
Healthy Homan Milk Magnified 420 Dia¬ 
meters.—Fig. 3S0. 
together appeared like milk, and had all of its 
nutritive properties, but not its taste or odor. 
Milk is especially adapted as a food for the 
young of animals until they attain the age 
when they can partake of other nutriment, be¬ 
cause it contains all the constituents of a mixed 
food. Both our daily practice and the result of 
physiological experiment teach us that mixed 
food, tlmt. is, food stuffs containing the several 
elements needed by the body—viz.: carbon, 
hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen—and in pro¬ 
portion as near as possible to its wants, is the 
best, depending upon the amount lost by the 
body and the organs used, in the infant, an 
excess beyond this is required to furnish 
material for growth. In milk the caseine 
supplies the nitrogen; the fats and sugar, in a 
great measure, the carbon and hydrogen, and 
the water, the water required by the body. If 
we take away any of the constituents of milk, 
it is no longer a true mixed food. For in¬ 
stance, if we remove the cream we take away 
part of the carbon and hydrogen-producing 
substances and more milk must then be 
digested to obtain the requisite supply, or if 
we add water we reduce the amounts of the 
elements furnishing carbon, hydrogen and 
nitrogen, the system is taxed to get rid of the 
excess of the water, and in both cases the 
digestive organs are required to do more work 
than nature intended in onler to supply the 
needs of the body. If we compare healthy 
human milk (Fig. 380.) with skimmed milk ? 
(Fig. 378) the difference iu the amount of fat is 
at once sceu. Or, in other words, Fig. 880. 
shows the milk nature gives children, and 
Fig. 878 the milk she does not give. The 
adulteration by water is especially bad, not 
only for the reason before assigned; but be¬ 
cause the water itself may be poisonous, as, 
for instance, when contaminated by sewage or 
containing the microscopic bodies found in 
Unhealthy lit man Milk Magnified 420 
Diameters.— Fig. 881. 
stagnant pools and even sometimes iu running 
water. Again, what a fraud it is on the 
pocket of the consumer; he pays ten cents a 
quart for water, and perhaps poisonous water 
at that. It was estimated a few years ago 
that the citizens of New York City were pay¬ 
ing $10,000 a day for water iu this way. 
Milk as a Conveyor of Disease. 
One would think that if we did get milk 
neither skimmed nor watered, all dangers 
would be obviated. But unfortunately milk 
may carry the germs of certain diseases from 
which the animal is s iffering. Fig. 381. shows 
unhealthy human milk. The small size and 
number of fat globules together with the pus 
are at once seen. This woman had consumption. 
Fortunately a diseased cow will generally pro 
duce milk unfit for sale, either on account of 
its taste, its odor, or because it sours 
readily or the amount produced is small. The 
celebrated case of the swill-fed cows, brought 
to the attention of the public some time since, 
is happily an exception. 
There is one period, however, at which 
milk from a healthy cow is not fit for food, 
and that is for a short time after calving. 
Fig. 382 shows such milk magnified 420 diame¬ 
ters. The large cells are those of colostrum 
always found in such milk. When we remem¬ 
ber that the object of this colostrum is to 
purge the young calf, we readily see why it is 
harmful to the infant. 
Again milk will absorb disease germs with 
great readiness. For instance, milk was kept 
in an ice-box in a loosely covered vessel. This 
ice-box was connected with the sewer, and 
this connection was not properly trapped. 
The milk absorbed the sewer gas which arose 
and typhoid fever broke out. No other 
cause could be found. Or. should the milkman 
have any disease in his family and the milk 
he sells be exposed, even for a few horn’s to the 
air of his house, he may spread the disease 
among his customer with fatal results. 
Adulteration and Precautions Against it. 
The temptation to adulterate milk by adding 
water is very great since it is easily done and 
the profits from such a practice are enor¬ 
mous. As I said before, about #10,000 worth 
of water was some years ago sold in this city 
Cow's Milk Immediately After Calving, 
Magnified 4 2d Diameters.— Flo. 882. 
as milk daily, or over #3,500,000 worth a year. 
The quantity of milk daily brought into this 
city amounts to about 125,000 gallons. 
Nearly three-fourths of the infant population 
of our cities are brought up on milk other 
than human, and it is for this reason chiefly 
that almost every city in the civilized world 
has some law in relation to a pure milk sup¬ 
ply. In this city the law is rigidly eufoi’eed. 
Water is detected by the lactometer together 
with the appearance and taste, and skimmed 
milk or other adulterations than that of water, 
by chemical analysis. 
All of the ferries, depots and wharves where 
milk is brought into the city are constantly 
visited, and the milk inspected at all hours ot 
the day and night. The milkman on his early 
rounds is carefully watched, and the thous¬ 
ands of places where milk is sold, even though 
it be but a few quarts a day, are constantly 
visited, and if at any of these places the milk 
is found to be impure, speedy tine or imprison¬ 
ment or perhaps both, should the dealers be 
found guilty, is the result. In 1SS0 the fines 
amounted to uterly #5,000; in 1881 to #11,657 
