Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1887. 
Kefir,  a  New  Hypnotic. 
515 
number  of  bacteria  which  circulate  in  the  atmosphere,  and  whose  soil 
of  development  is  furnished  by  the  curds  of  coagulated  milk. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  preparation  of  kefir  the  grains  should  be 
allowed  to  swell  in  tepid  water  for  five  or  six  hours — two  teaspoonfuls 
to  a  tablespoon  ful  of  kefir  grains  ;  they  should  then  be  washed  in  cold 
water  and  put  in  half  a  glass  of  fresh  milk,  which  is  changed  every 
three  hours.  The  grains,  which  were  yellow,  become  white,  and  are 
then  ready  for  the  preparation  of  kefir. 
This  is  done  by  placing  the  white  grains  in  a  quart  of  fresh  cow's 
milk,  and  the  whole  placed  in  uncorked  bottles  and  exposed  to  a  tem- 
perature of  about  45°  F.,  and  frequently  shaken.  The  milk  begins  to 
ferment  soon,  and  in  seven  or  eight  hours  the  mass  is  fermented.  The 
kefir  grains  are  removed  by  filtering  through  muslin,  the  liquid  re- 
placed in  bottles,  which  are  only  partly  filled,  and  carefully  corked. 
The  milk  is  left  at  a  constant  temperature,  and  shaken  every  two 
or  three  hours.  Fermentation  continues  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  the 
ferment,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  the  drink  is  ready.  The  grains  of 
kefir  may  be  washed  and  used  indefinitely. 
Kefir  is  richer  in  albumen  than  koumiss,  less  alcoholic,  and  less 
acid. 
The  following  table  of  analysis J^shows  the  composition  of  milk, 
koumiss,  and  kefir : 
Cow's  milk.         Koumiss.  Kefir. 
Albumen  :                   48                  11.2  38 
Butter                                          38                  20.5  20 
Sugar  of  milk                                 41                  22.0  20 
Lactic  acid                                                        11.5  9 
Alcohol   165  8 
Water  and  salts                            873  918.3  905 
Action  of  the  sun's  rays  on  glucose. — At  a  meeting  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences,  M.  Pasteur  referred  to  some  recent  researches  by  M. 
Duclaux  on  the  decomposition  of  sugar  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  This  inves- 
tigator had  observed  that  when  an  alkaline  solution  of  glucose,  either  in 
contact  with  the  air  or  completely  protected  from  the  atmosphere,  was 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  solar  rays,  decomposition  took  place  without 
the  intervention  of  any  ferment.  Carbonic  acid  and  alcohol  were  produced 
in  just  the  same  proportion  as  when  sugar  is  fermented  by  yeast.  This 
observation,  although  of  no  great  practical  importance,  is  of  considerable 
scientific  interest. — Medical  Times,  Aug.  20. 
