PHARMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
Solidified  Milk. — The  Editor  of  the  Amer.  Medical  Monthly 
describes  the  visit  made  by  a  committee  of  the  N.  Y.  Academy 
of  Medicine  to  the  establishment  of  Mr.  Blatchford,  in  Duchess 
county,  near  Poughkeepsie,  in  that  State,  where  "solid  milk  " 
is  manufactured  on  a  large  scale.  The  following  is  the  process 
pursued.  "To  112  lbs.  of  milk,  28  lbs.  of  Stuart's  white  sugar 
were  added,  and  a  trivial  portion  of  bi-carbonate  of  soda,  a  tea- 
spoonful,  merely  enough  to  insure  the  neutralizing  of  any  acidity, 
which,  in  the  summer  season,  is  exhibited  even  a  few  minutes 
after  milking,  although  inappreciable  to  the  organs  of  taste. 
The  sweet  milk  was  poured  into  evaporating  pans  of  enamelled 
iron,  embedded  in  warm  water  heated  by  steam.  A  thermometer 
was  immersed  in  each  of  these  water  baths,  that,  by  frequent 
inspection,  it  might  not  rise  above  the  point  which  years  of  ex- 
perience have  shown  advisable. 
To  facilitate  the  evaporation — by  blowers  and  other  ingenious 
apparatus — a  current  of  air  is  established  between  the  covers  of 
the  pans  and  the  solidifying  milk.  Connected  with  the  steam 
engine  is  an  arrangement  of  stirrers,  for  agitating  the  milk 
slightly,  while  evaporating,  and  so  gently  as  not  to  churn  it.  In 
about  three  hours  the  milk  and  sugar  assumed  a  pasty  consistency, 
and  delighted  the  palates  of  all  present :  by  constant  manipula- 
tion and  warming  it  was  reduced  to  a  rich,  creamy-looking  pow- 
der, then  exposed  to  the  air  to  cool,  weighed  into  parcels  of  a 
pound  each,  and,  by  a  press  with  the  force  of  a  ton  or  two,  made 
to  assume  the  compact  form  of  a  tablet,  (the  size  of  a  small 
brick),  in  which  shape,  covered  with  tin-foil,  it  is  presented  to 
the  public." 
The  pans  are  carefully  washed  after  each  operation.  About 
one  thousand  acres  of  pasture  land  are  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment, which  is  admirably  situated  for  the  purposes  required. 
"  Some  of  the  solidified  milk  which  had  been  grated  and  dis- 
solved in  water  the  previous  evening,  was  found  covered  with  a 
rich  cream.  This  was  skimmed  off,  and  soon  converted  into  ex- 
cellent butter.  Another  solution  was  speedily  converted  into 
wine  whey,  by  a  treatment  precisely  similar  to  that  employed 
in  using  ordinary  milk.  It  fully  equalled  the  expectations  of 
all ;  so  that  solidified  milk  will  hereafter  rank  among  the  neces- 
sary appendages  of  the  sick  room.    In  fine,  this  article  makes 
