Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Dec.  1,  1874.  / 
The  Koumis  Cure. 
573 
"  There  are  koumis  establishments  in  Russia  elsewhere  than  at 
Samara.  At  Czarsko  Selo,  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Petersburg, 
as  well  as  in  the  Sokslniki  environ  of  Moscow,  there  are  similar 
establishments.  At  both  these  places,  although  the  precious  covil 
does  not  flourish,  the  Tartar-bred  mare  is  alone  in  vogue.  I  visited 
both  these  establishments,  but  fell  in  love  with  neither.  In  the  first 
place  the  neighborhood  of  a  capital  (and  both  St.  Petersburg  and 
Moscow  are  capitals)  is  an  unfavorable  citus  for  a  6  cure.'  The  con- 
trast of  a  medical  establishment  with  the  surrounding  associations  is 
fatal  to  it.  All  such  establishments  have  a  melancholy  and  depress- 
ing look  about  them.  Phthisis,  catarrh  and  tubercles  seem  written 
on  every  brick,  and  labelled  on  every  bottle.  I  felt  that  I  should 
have  an  attack  of  '  nerves'  if  I  stayed  there  ten  minutes,  and  that  all 
the  Tartar  mares  in  Russia  could  not  restore  me.  If  you  are  unlucky 
enough  to  require  a  *  cure,'  go  bury  yourself  alive  as  far  from  the 
habitations  of  men  as  you  can  ;  flee  from  the  very  neighborhood  of  a 
city,  far  more  a  capital.  Consider  that  situation  the  best  which 
offers  you  the  fewest  resources,  otherwise  your  labor  is  likely  to  be 
in  vain,  and  your  4  cure'  a  mockery  and  a  delusion.  All  these  advan- 
tages, I  may  mention,  are  pre-eminently  secured  at  Samara. 
"  Besides  these  establishments  at  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  Dr. 
Stahlberg,  formerly  at  the  head  of  the  Moscow  establishment,  has 
set  up  a  similar  one  at  Wiesbaden,  maintaining  that  the  covil  is  all 
humbug,  and  that  it  is  '  the  breed  that  does  it.'  The  sceptical 
analysis  is  carried  still  farther ;  for  in  London  there  is  a  Russian 
(Polish)  medical  man,  Dr.  Yagielski,  an  authority  in  koumis,  who 
goes  so  far  counter  to  the  received  notions  on  the  subject  as  to  deny 
not  only  the  indispensableness  of  Tartar  mares  for  the  production  of 
koumis,  but  even  of  mares  at  all,  actually  giving  the  preference  (tell 
it  not  in  Gath  and  whisper  it  not  in  Samara)  to  the  domestic  cow. 
But  I  must  leave  the  cow-produced  koumis  to  its  fate,  and  proceed 
with  my  description  of  the  genuine  covii-fed  Tartar-bred  mare's  milk, 
koumis.  The  process  of  manufacture  is  the  following.  I  may  men- 
tion that  it  is  Bashkir  girls  who  are  generally  employed  to  make  it. 
It  is  their  national  beverage,  and  they  best  understand  it.  Being 
less  wild,  too,  than  the  nomad  Khirgis,  it  is  easier  to  '  catch'  this 
particular  Tartar  specimen. 
"  Koumis  is  fermented  mare's  milk.  An  element  of  fermentation 
is  consequently  required  for  its  manufacture.    This  is  supplied  by 
