Am.  Jottr.  Phabm.  1 
Dec.  1,  1874.  J 
The  Rownis  Cure. 
571 
carved  out  of  the  neighboring  governments  of  Simbirsk,  Saratov  and 
Orenburg,  and  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Volga,  on  the  borders 
of  Orenburg,  on  the  high  road  to  Asia. 
"  It  has  long  been  known  that  the  Tartar  tribes  inhabiting  what 
is  generally  known  as  Independent  Tartary  (no  longer,  however, 
since  General  Kaufmann's  visit,  particularly  independent)  and  the 
nomad  tribes  scattered  over  its  northern  frontiers,  the  Turkomans 
and  the  Kirghis,  as  well  as  other  tribes  more  or  less  akin  to  these, 
such  as  the  half-nomad  Bashkirs  of  Orenburg,  all  used  fermented 
mare's  milk,  which  they  call  koumis,  not  only  as  a  beverage,  but  as 
a  substantial  portion  of  their  daily  food.  It  was  reported  to  combine 
the  nourishing  properties  of  milk  with  the  invigorating  qualities  of 
alcohol;  indeed,  among  its  other  virtues  it  was  said  to  exhilarate  and 
to  intoxicate.  It  came  into  the  heads  of  some  Russian  medical  men. 
of  whom,  I  believe,  Dr.  PortnikofF,  of  Samara,  to  have  been  one  of 
the  first,  that  this  koumis  might  possibly  possess  medical  properties 
as  well.  It  was  observed  that  consumption  and  its  cognate  disorders 
were  unknown  among  the  tribes  who  habitually  drank  koumis.  Starl- 
ing from  this  observation,  experiments  were  made  on  the  vilia  cor- 
pora of  consumptive  patients,  and  with  highly  beneficial  results. 
Upon  this  Dr.  PortnikofF  started  a  koumis  establishment  at  Samara, 
Its  situation  offered  him  many  advantages.  In  the  first  place,  from 
its  position  on  the  Volga,  it  was  at  least  approachable,  whereas  Oren- 
burg, the  nearest  spot  where  koumis  could  be  said  to  be  indigenous, 
was  the  ultima  tliule  of  the  civilized  world.  This  new  establishment 
on  the  Volga  was  the  means,  therefore,  of  pushing  the  koumis  out- 
posts 300  miles  westwards.  In  the  next  place,  it  was  observed  that 
pasturage  at  Samara  was  similar  to  that  at  Orenburg.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  virtue  of  koumis  consists  in  a  great  measure  in  the  rich, 
quality  of  the  mare's  milk,  which  again  is  dependent,  not  only  or: 
the  race  of  mares,  but  on  the  pasturage  on  which  they  are  fed.  AH 
these  are  propositions  which  are  more  or  less  vehemently  affirmed 
and  denied  by  the  different  camps  into  which  koumis  connoisseurs 
are  divided.  For  my  own  part,  without  giving  any  opinion  on  so 
profound  a  subject,  I  would  only  venture  in  a  very  general  way  to 
observe  that  it  is  a  very  old  idol  of  the  human  mind  to  mistake  acci- 
dents for  essentials,  and  to  argue  that,  because  things  have  been 
invariably  seen  in  conjunction,  they  must  necessarily  be  connected 
as  cause  and  effect.    However  this  may  be,  the  haute  ecole  of  koumis 
