THE OX. 
35 
THE DAIRY. 
in caseous matter. Some of the wealthier Laplanders have as many as a thousand head of those fleet and powerful Deers; the 
less affluent have herds of 300 or less. 
The milk of the Mare is used only in those boundless plains of Central Asia where the Horse can be reared in nume¬ 
rous herds. It contains a larger proportion of sugar than that of the ruminating quadrupeds, but less of albumen and oil. It 
yields curd, but the cream is in small quantity. From the abundance of the saccharine principle, it readily undergoes the vinous 
fermentation, and the wandering tribes have long learned to convert it into a fermented liquor, which they use in excess. They 
had even attained the art of separating the alcohol by distillation, long, it is probable, before the alchymists of the West had 
discovered that aqua vitse, which they fancied was to confer upon them immortality. The Western Asiatics, or true Tartars, 
still use the milk of their Mares j but, from the diminished number of Horses, in less quantity than in former ages j for these tribes, 
now controlled by the powerful sway of a vigorous government, have became less predatory, and cultivate the ruminating animals 
more than the Horse. Rut the Kalmuks and other Eastern Asiatics still make considerable use of the milk of their numerous 
Mares. 
The milk of the Ass possesses nearly the same properties as that of the Mare, but it contains still less of oil and cheese. 
It has been used from early times as a medicament. It is sweet and wholesome, and, from the small quantity of oil which it con¬ 
tains, it is the most easily assimilated by the digestive organs of any kind of milk. The butter which may be obtained from it by 
long agitation is soft and insipid, and possesses the property of mixing again with the whey. 
Milk, like all the secretions of the animal body, is a very compound substance. It consists of about 90 per cent, of water, 
holding in solution and suspension the substances which enter into its composition. These are, ls£, The matter of butter, diffused 
in myriads of globules throughout the fluid j 2d, Gaseum, or the matter of cheese, which is held partly in solution, and partly in 
suspension; 3d, Lactine, or the sugar of milk; 4 th. An animal extract like that yielded by flesh, various soluble salts, and in some 
cases a quantity of free acid. 
When milk is suffered to remain at rest, it separates slowly into two parts. The lighter globules of oil rise to the surface, 
carrying with them a portion of the caseous matter and serum, and forming the unctuous coat termed cream. The rising of the 
cream is favoured by employing shallow vessels, and the separation continues for twenty-four hours or more, according to the kind 
of milk, and the temperature of the air. The entire oil does not separate, but a portion of it remains suspended in the liquid. 
M hen the cream is removed, the remaining liquid is still opaque, is of a bluish-white colour, and has had its density increased by 
the removal of the lighter globules. This substance, in common language termed Skimmilk, is perfectly nutritive, containing 
nearly all the caseous and saccharine principles, with a certain portion of the butyraceous. 
When cream is agitated for a time, or when the entire milk, without separation of the cream, is agitated, the butyraceous 
globules collect and adhere together, forming a soft solid, which is Butter, and which floats in the liquid. The separation of the 
butter, which takes place suddenly, is performed by the familiar process of churning, and in certain countries by agitating the milk 
in bags of hide or leather. What remains after the separation of the butter is termed Buttermilk. Buttermilk is therefore 
merely milk deprived of its butter, and still contains the caseous and other constituents. 
Butter thus obtained has the properties of an expressed oil, and fuses at about the temperature of the human body. It is a 
very compound substance, being resolvable into various animal fats and acids; and further, it is not obtained pure by the mecha¬ 
nical means employed to separate it, but retains a portion of caseum, serum, and the soluble matters of the milk. When ex¬ 
posed to the air, it speedily undergoes a change, and becomes rancid. To preserve it from decomposition, it is mixed with salt 
and other substances. The people of the warmer countries of the East subject it to fusion, by which means the extraneous matters 
are separated. It is then termed Ghee, in which state it is used by the Hindoos and other Asiatics. The Arabs consume it in 
enormous quantities. Burckhardt informs us that it is a common practice amongst all classes to drink every morning a coffee- 
cup full of ghee. The taste for it is universal, and the poorest persons will expend half their daily income in order that they 
may enjoy their melted butter in the morning and at noon. Large quantities of this substance accordingly are yearly shipped for 
Arabia from Abyssinia and Egypt. 
The butter of milk, it has been seen, is separated by means purely mechanical; the caseous or cheesy portion is obtained by 
causing the albuminous matter of the milk to cohere or coagulate. When milk, with or without separation of its cream, is kept 
for a time, the caseous matter diffused through it, or dissolved in it, coagulates and forms curd. This coagulum envelopes the 
parts which still remain liquid, and renders the whole of a gelatinous consistence. By pressure and breaking the coagulum, the 
greater part of the liquid readily separates, and the curd being compressed forms cheese. But the process of coagulation may be 
hastened by the mixture of various substances. All the acids possess the property of coagulating milk even at common tern- 
