MILITIA

MILITIA, from the Latin miles, a soldier, in its original signification, means warfare, the qualification of soldier-ship, or the military body. In this last signification it became incorporated with the English language. It is now used to distinguish, from the regular forces, the body of citizens who may be annually called out for a limited time, and embodied on occasions of emergency. As the system out of which the present militia has arisen existed previously to the establishment of a mercenary army, and frequently constituted the sole military organization of its time, a historical sketch of the institution will involve to a certain extent a general view of the military state of Britain during the earlier periods of our history.

Any account of the military system of the Saxons, especially when we approach the era of the Norman conquest,

Militia. becomes involved in the great question as to the extent to which feudal practices had been adopted in England previous to that event. It has, however, been distinctly ascertained, that land, amongst the Anglo-Saxons, became not only the reward of military services performed, but the stipulated wages of their continuation. Thus there came to be a connection between the performance of services to a chief and the holding land under him, the soldier or thane possessing the land on the condition of performing military duties, but not, as by the mature usages of the feudal system, rendering the service as an incident of the tenure of the land. The grants so made were generally for a contingent period, and were revocable from a vassal unfit to perform his military engagements; and we find amongst them a species of transaction so complicated as grants to churchmen, on the condition of their making provision for the performance of the military duties they were personally disqualified from undertaking.¹ The oath of the vassal was personal and conditional, and had no reference to the land as a bond of union.² It was the duty of the superior to protect his follower, and when he ceased to do so, the vassal was relieved from obedience; but desertion was viewed as a crime of great magnitude. Those freemen who had not undertaken to perform military service in return for lands were entitled, like the clients of the Romans, to select their own "Hlafords" or patrons; but this class of followers seems to have gradually decreased towards the era of the conquest, when it would appear from Domesday-book that all land was, or was presumed to be, held of a superior. It was perhaps for the furtherance of such a principle, without the invasion of existing free rights in property, that an exception sometimes appears in favour of the tenant: "Et poterat ire cum ea (terra) ad quem vellet Dominum," intimating that he might hold his land of whatsoever lord he chose.

Whatever right the patron may have had to the exclusive military services of his dependent, it undoubtedly yielded to the claim of the state to the assistance of every freeman in cases of invasion or rebellion. It is probable that when the national force, denominated the Fyrd, was brought into existence, the right of patronage gave the superior no further power than that of leading his dependents when they joined the general host. The approach to any decision on this point is impeded by many difficulties, arising from the incongruities in the practice of different periods and of different parts of the country, and the absence of any contemporary treatise explanatory of the general rules and the reason of the apparent exceptions. It is thus that on some occasions the right of the Hlaford to command his followers is spoken of without any reference to the paramount claims of the public, whilst elsewhere we find the community arrayed by command of the sovereign, without reference to the circumstance that two distinct classes are to appear in the field, in the respective position of patrons and vassals. "From the earliest period," says Sir Francis Palgrave, "to which our documents can reach, we find the Fyrd appearing as a general armament of the people, comprehending every rank, though under different obligations and penalties. If the Sithcund-man, being a landholder, remained at home, he forfeited all his land; sixty shillings was his fine; whilst thirty shillings was the Fyrdwite of the churl, and to the last it continued a levy of all the population of the country."³ Sir William Blackstone and others include the national militia amongst the improvements attributed to the inventive genius of the great Alfred. The Fyrd, however, is of earlier origin. In

the laws attributed to Edward the Confessor, the authenticity of which is justly doubted, though they are certainly the work of some one well acquainted with the Anglo-Saxon constitution, there are regulations for the organization and discipline of the Fyrd, probably embodying those improvements of Alfred which procured him the credit of having planned the system. These regulations adapt the arms to be provided by each freeman to a scale of wealth; forbid their being sold or pledged under penalties; provide for their descending to heirs; and appoint annual exhibitions, which, in order to baffle attempts to display the same weapons in different districts, were to take place simultaneously all over the country.⁴ The command was given to district-leaders called "Heretochs," who, it is stated, were, like the rice-comites or sheriffs, elected by their respective districts in full folk-mote. Sir William Blackstone observes, that the power thus vested in the people proved dangerous to the community, by erecting a rival to the royal prerogative; and he refers to this source of influence the treachery of Eric Streone, and the usurpation of Harold. Whatever the theory of the Anglo-Saxon constitution may have admitted, however, it does not appear, from the history of the period, that the voice of the people regularly influenced the command of the natural force; and undoubtedly, in the instances cited, the power unduly used had been otherwise obtained.

The Norman conquest did not produce so much effect, by altering the system so established, as by bringing the new engine of feudalism to act in concert with it. The king was then the commander of two separate forces. His feudal army was furnished by the tenants of his knights' fees, for each of which he could demand the service of one knight or of two esquires for forty days. These were his personal followers during their period of service, and were liable to be employed either at home or abroad. But the absolute demand on his services was inconvenient to the vassal, and the limitation of the period was often no less so to the king. Hence those who were partial to the occupation of war frequently remained with the army beyond their assigned period for a stipulated remuneration, whilst others got their services commuted into a money-payment, which afterwards merged into the oppressive exaction of scutage. Whilst this new species of force came into operation, the Fyrd of the Saxons still remained in existence. It afterwards was the source whence arose two distinct institutions; the posse comitatus, liable to be called out by the sheriff to keep the king's peace; and the militia force of the present day.

In the celebrated "assize of arms" of 1181, we find the Fyrd of the Anglo-Saxons in its original purity. All freemen are appointed to have arms in their possession, according to a scale of ranks, which consists, first, of the holders of a knight's fee; secondly, of the possessors of chattels or rents to the extent of sixteen marks; thirdly, of the holders of similar property to the value of ten marks; and, lastly, of all other burgesses and freemen.⁵ The Fyrd, with its periodical exhibitions of arms, was recognised as late as the year 1285, when, by the statute of Winchester (13 Ed. I. st. 2, c. 6), the scale of arms assigned to the respective ranks was revised. The part of the act which enforces the keeping of arms was adjusted to the progress of the art of war in 1558 (4 and 5 Ph. and M. c. 2), and finally abolished in 1604 (1 Jac. I. c. 25, sect. 46).

Meanwhile practices commenced which gave rise to much subsequent dispute respecting the question, how far the right of the monarch to demand the military assistance of

Militia. his subjects in such wars as he chose to prosecute, was restricted. Many apparent anomalies in the constitution of this early period may be explained by reflecting that the Anglo-Saxon people continued to cherish certain privileges and customs which the Norman monarchs were often unable openly to abolish, whilst they were frequently powerful enough to infringe them. The annual array was an institution with which they naturally tampered, finding it their interest to amalgamate it with their feudal prerogatives. On the other hand, there were no definite limits to the prerogative, which insinuated itself wherever it was not practically checked. Accordingly we find parliament avoiding for some time any distinct recognition of the prerogative of the crown, or the privileges of the subject, and acting on the defensive against the former. Thus, by statute 1 Ed. III. c. 5, "The king wills, that no man from henceforth shall be charged to arm himself, otherwise than he was wont in the times of his progenitors kings of England; and that no man be compelled to go out of his shire but where necessity requireth, and sudden coming of strange enemies into the realm; and that it shall be done as hath been used in times past for the defence of the realm." The seventh chapter of the same statute gives redress on complaints that commissioners appointed to raise soldiers had been chargeable to the shires; and by the instructions to the sheriffs in the 10th Ed. III. stat. ii. money so exacted is directed to be returned. More decided attempts to amalgamate the assize of arms with the feudal force appear to have been opposed in 1351, when by 25 Ed. III. stat. v. c. 8, it was enacted that "no man shall be constrained to find men of arms, hobelers nor archers, other than those who shall hold by such services, if it be not by common assent and grant made in parliament."

At an early period, the crown gradually enlarged its military authority, by issuing commissions of array. These writs, which were at first probably mere authorities to individuals to use the royal name and influence in collecting troops, came from practice to be viewed as emanating from the prerogative. In that anxiety to avoid collision with the crown, which distinguishes many of the old acts of parliament, they are frequently alluded to without being either sanctioned or condemned. A singular instance of apparently intentional ambiguity occurs in 1 Ed. III. stat. ii. c. 15, which was avowedly passed for the relief of individuals, who, at the suggestion of "false and evil counsellors," had been prevailed on by "duress" to come under burdensome obligations to perform military duties. The contracts are cancelled with a sort of oracular qualification, evidently inserted as the nominal price of a real concession: "Considering that such writings were made to the king's dishonour, sithens that every man is bound to do to the king as his liege lord all that pertaineth to him, without any manner of writing." In the fifth year of Henry IV. a statute was passed limiting the form and authority of commissions of array. It involves the anticipation of foreign invasion, empowers the commissioners in such circumstances to array and train all men-at-arms, to cause all able-bodied men to arm themselves according to their substance, to amerce those unable to bear arms in a similarly adjusted ratio, and to require the services of persons so armed on the sea-shore, or elsewhere, at the moment of danger. It is singular that this statute, which forms the only legislative authority to which Charles I. finally appealed in the celebrated struggle for the command of the militia, has never been conceived of sufficient importance to be printed in any collection of the statutes, and seems to have been accidentally discovered in manuscript by some of the crown officers.¹ It was indeed,

like the last cited statute, an act of grace, having been passed for the protection of the persons nominated as commissioners, who, according to the preamble, were liable to many penalties and forfeitures in the performance of their assigned duties. It is worthy of note, as bearing on the extent of the authority intended to be conferred by this act, that during the previous year (by 4 Hen. IV. c. 13) the enactments above referred to, checking the encroachments of the royal authority, were all jealously confirmed; the holders of lands in Wales and of military fiefs, and persons who had bound themselves by contract to perform military services, being specially excepted. During the Tudor dynasty, the declaratory limitations attempted by the old statutes were undoubtedly little respected by the crown, and forced levies were made on many occasions, when the necessities contemplated by the acts could be brought forward as a nominal justification, without being minutely questioned. A statute of the year 1558 (4 and 5 Phil. and M. c. 3) appears at first sight to give full sanction to the right of impressment; but an observation of the circumstances in which the act was to be enforced, and reference to a previous act which it professed to amend, show that it was intended for the discipline of those who had become soldiers, and to prevent their desertion. During the long parliament, by an act granting the temporary power of impressing as many men as the king and both houses of parliament might appoint (16 Car. I. c. 28), the limitations were again confirmed; and it was declared, that by the law of the realm the subject ought not to be impressed or compelled to go beyond his county, &c. in the same terms as the statute of the first of Edward III.

Militia. Such was the state of matters when, in the celebrated dispute between Charles I. and the parliament regarding the right to command the militia, it was maintained on the one hand that the preservation of the peace of the country, and its protection from foreign invaders, were the unalienable privileges of the crown, and involved the right to command all armies, and to demand on all occasions the military service of the lieges; and, on the other, that such privileges existed in no individual without the consent of both houses of parliament; whilst it was urged, first in the form of an ordinance, and next in that of a bill, that the king should consent to the militia being placed in the hands of commissioners named by parliament. Although the statutes above referred to show that in moments of danger the king was so far the guardian of the peace, that he was entitled to put himself at the head of the persons bound to keep themselves in readiness for such occasions, and the practice had been undoubtedly still more favourable to the prerogative, neither an act of the legislature, nor any uninterrupted train of precedents, had given the monarch the unlimited military command which he arrogated. At an unfortunate time for the adjustment of such a question, it had to be settled between the conflicting branches of the legislature; and Whitelocke at least approached the truth, when he said he apprehended "that the power of the militia is neither in the king only, nor in the parliament; and if the law hath placed it any where, it is both in the king and parliament, when they join together;" though the state of matters equivocally illustrated his remark, in continuation, that "it is a wise institution of our law not to settle this power any where, but rather to leave it in dubio, or in nubibus, that the people might be kept in ignorance thereof, as a thing not fit to be known nor to be pried into." Arguments founded on precedent and the nature of the constitution were at that juncture, however, merely like the diplomatic manoeuvres pre-

Militia. ceding an international war. Each party was calculating its strength for the approaching conflict; and if their respective rights were so earnestly insisted on by either side, with any other view than that of colouring the real grounds of the rupture, it was that of securing the wavering by a show of adherence to constitutional principles. In a short time each party mustered its own forces in its own way.

In the parliament which was summoned after the Restoration, effectual means were taken by two statutes (13 Car. II. c. 6, and 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 3), which probably would not have been passed by the convention parliament, to put an end to any doubts as to the prerogative on this point. It was declared, that "the sole supreme government, command, and disposition of the militia, and of all forces by sea and land, and of all forts and places of strength, is, and by the laws of England ever was, the undoubted right of his majesty and his royal predecessors;" and lieutenants and their deputies were empowered to charge their counties to provide horse and foot soldiers, according to a fixed scale of property. The system thus constructed was slightly amended in the years 1699, 1714, and 1743.

In 1756, when the large standing force, which the position of Britain rendered it expedient to keep up, was made more unpopular by the introduction of the Hanoverian mercenaries, a bill to reconstruct the militia passed through the House of Commons under the auspices of Mr Charles Townshend and his friends, but was rejected in the House of Lords by 59 to 23. With some difficulty the measure was carried in 1757; but, though approved of by a large party, its practical enforcement frequently produced discontent and local disturbance. In 1762 the system was improved, and several acts were afterwards passed amending particular departments. In 1802, the militia laws of England and Scotland were consolidated by 42 Geo. III. c. 90 and 91; and these statutes, with that of 49 Geo. III. c. 120, applicable to Ireland, contain, with some partial amendments made by later acts, the law applicable to the militia of the united kingdom. Before giving such a brief selection from the many minute regulations prescribed by these statutes, as a work of general reference is expected to contain, we may be permitted to glance at the origin of the militias of Scotland and Ireland.

In Scotland there seems never to have been, except in burghs, a national force for the defence of the citizens, like the Fyrd of the Saxons. The earliest acts of parliament, however, enforce practice in the bow, of which the efficiency had been so dearly learned in the English wars; whilst periodical "wapenshawings" are directed to be held, in which each individual should be armed upon a scale vaguely proportioned to his property.¹ In time of war or rebellion, proclamations were issued, charging all sheriffs and magistrates of burghs, to direct the attendants of the respective wapenshawings to join the king's host;² and the criminal records contain many prosecutions for "abiding from" the various "raids," which are generally settled by composition with the lord treasurer. During the civil wars of the seventeenth century, the army which had been brought into existence by the enthusiasm of the covenanters, was supported by levies and assessments apportioned by district committees of war appointed by parliament, whose duties and powers were modelled on those of the commissioners of array in England. In 1662 (1 Car. II. 3, 27), the parliament made offer of 20,000 foot and 2000 horse to be at his majesty's sole disposal, and to be marched to any part of Scotland, England, or Ireland. This body constituted a regular standing army, the organization of

which underwent some alterations in the years 1669, 1672, 1693, and 1695. From this last period, no legislative improvements were made in the militia of Scotland until the year 1797, when the system established in England was partially extended to that part of the empire, though not without considerable local disturbance.

In Ireland the predatory army of gallowglasses, which, even in times of comparative tranquillity, it was found necessary to keep constantly armed for the preservation or the enlargement of the pale, was supported to a small extent by supplies from England; but it chiefly depended on exactions from the Anglo-Irish, made by a dexterous application of the many fines and petty tributes originally exigible by the native chiefs. To these the English added the formidable exactions of coign and livery, which embracing free quarters, and all that is generally taken under the sanction of that licence, were the frequent subject of bitter complaint, though not much heeded by a government which expected that the conquest would at least support itself.³ In 1715, on occasion of the rebellion in Scotland, an act was passed by the Irish parliament (2 Geo. I. c. 9) for raising a militia to consist of Protestants. Roman Catholics were subject to double rates; and all serviceable horses belonging to them might be seized and made use of, provided that within ten days the sum of L.5 (deducting the expense of seizure and keeping) was tendered to the owner of each as full payment. After several partial alterations, the militia laws were consolidated by the Irish parliament in 1793 (33 Geo. III. c. 22) and 1795 (35 Geo. III. c. 8), and accommodated to those of England in 1809.

By the present constitution of the militia in the united kingdom, his majesty appoints lords-lieutenant in England, and governors in Ireland, to each county or province, with power to call out and train the militia annually, and to appoint twenty or more deputy-lieutenants or governors, or other officers, subject to the royal approval. A deputy in England or Ireland requires, as his qualification, to be proprietor of real property worth L.200 a year, or heir apparent to an estate of twice that value. In Scotland he must possess, or be heir-apparent to, landed property to the extent of L.400 Scotch of valued rent. In England a colonel must hold an estate of L.1000 a year, or be heir-apparent to one of L.2000; in Scotland he must hold or be heir-apparent to one of L.800 of valued rent; and in Ireland he must hold an estate of L.2000 a year, or be heir-apparent to one of L.3000. A lieutenant-colonel's qualification is, in England, an annual estate of L.600, or an appurtenance of L.1200; in Scotland a valued rent of L.600; and in Ireland an estate of L.1200, or an appurtenance of L.1800. The qualifications of the lower ranks are upon a corresponding scale, personal property being taken into consideration in those of lieutenants and ensigns. There are distinct qualifications, generally of a lower grade, for Wales, the Isle of Ely, Huntingdon, Monmouth, Westmoreland, Rutland, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and those towns which are counties within themselves, and by ancient usage trained a separate militia. The militias of London and the Tower Hamlets are regulated by separate acts (viz. 36 Geo. III. c. 92, 37 Geo. III. c. 25 and 75, and 39 Geo. III. c. 92); and those of the Cinque Ports and their members are, in pursuance of ancient custom, left to the administration of the warden.

The business of balloting for and calling out the militia commences with the annual general meeting of the lieutenancy of each county, when the next subdivision meeting is appointed, to which chief constables, or other

Militia officers, are required to direct constables or schoolmasters to return lists of all males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in their respective parishes. Within fourteen days after requisition, the constable or schoolmaster leaves a schedule in each dwelling-house, to be filled up within fourteen days, with the names and designations of persons within the ages, and their claims of exemption, if there be any, under a penalty of L.5. Within a month after serving the notices, the constables or schoolmasters make up and affix, to the church-doors, lists, mentioning exemptions and incapacities, and notifying the times and places for the discussion of appeals. These are decided by two or more deputies at the subdivision meetings, and their decisions are final. The clerks of general meetings then transmit lists to the privy council, distinguishing those liable to serve from those exempt. The men to be enrolled are chosen by ballot from each parish; all who are not above four feet and five inches in height, or are not approved of on examination by a surgeon, being discharged, and others balloted for in their room. Those who do not personally appear, or send an approved substitute to take the oath, are liable in a penalty of L.10. There are arrangements by which, with the consent of the inhabitants, volunteers, remunerated by parish assessments, may be substituted for balloted men.

The persons exempted are, peers; commissioned officers of the other forces, whether on full or half-pay; non-commissioned officers and private men in the other forces; persons serving, or who have served for four years, as commissioned officers in the militia; persons serving in the yeomanry or volunteers; persons serving, or who have served at any time within a year past, in the local militia; resident members of the several universities; clergymen of the establishments, and registered dissenting clergymen; parish schoolmasters; articulated clerks; apprentices; seafaring men; persons employed in his majesty's docks, the Tower, Woolwich Warren, the gun-wharfs of Portsmouth, and the stores under the direction of the Board of Ordnance; persons free of the company of watermen of the Thames; any poor man with more than one child born in wedlock, in England; any man with more than two lawful children, and not possessing property to the value of L.50, in Scotland; and in Ireland, any poor man not worth L.10, or who does not pay L.5 a year of rent, and has more than three lawful children under the age of fourteen.

The number of private men apportioned amongst the different countries is, for England and Wales 40,963, for Scotland 7950, and for Ireland 21,616, making a total of 70,529; but this number has been increased by temporary acts. The privy council may, at the end of every period of ten years, alter the proportional numbers assigned to the respective counties; but this arrangement has been subject to alteration by temporary acts. The annual training is, for such a period, not exceeding twenty-eight days, as his majesty may direct; and the calling out of the whole, or of any part, may be suspended by an order in council. The mutiny act and the articles of war apply to the militia so called out, with the ordinary constitutional limitation, that no punishment can extend to life or limb. There are separate provisions for recovering deserters, &c. In the case of anticipated invasion or rebellion, his majesty may direct each lord-lieutenant, or, in the case of the death or absence of a lord-lieutenant, any three of his deputies to embody the militia with all convenient speed, the occasion being first notified in parliament, if it is assembled; and if not, declared in council, and published by proclamation. By a similar proceeding, a supplementary militia may be raised, to the extent of one half of the fixed number. The regiments are liable to be marched to any part of the united kingdom; but no Irish regiment

can be compelled to serve in Britain, or British regiment in Ireland, longer than two years at one time; nor must above a fourth part of the British militia be employed in Ireland, or a third of the Irish militia in Britain. These restrictions, adopted in 1811, when the militias of the two islands were united under the title of the Militia of the United Kingdom, were partially suspended in 1813; and during the time of actual invasion or rebellion they may be disregarded. The old principle, that the militia cannot be compelled to serve out of the kingdom, is still adhered to, although in 1813 (54 Geo. III. c. 1) provision was made for accepting the service of militiamen and officers, to be formed into provisional regiments, and to co-operate with the regular forces. At previous periods, considerable numbers of militiamen had been drafted into the line, the losses of the militia regiments being made up by temporary acts, which slightly increased their original quotas.

By 48 Geo. III. c. 111 and 150, the celebrated local militia was, in 1808, appointed in England and Scotland, being limited in each county to "six times the original quota or proportion of the original quota of militia." In 1812, two new acts were passed (52 Geo. III. c. 38 and 68), which apportioned the numbers of men to the respective shires in England and Scotland, but contained regulating provisions which tended to make the local militia and volunteers together amount to six times the number of the original militia contingents. When these forces were added to the two hundred thousand men allowed to be trained by Mr Windham's act (46 Geo. III. c. 90), the citizen army, at the disposal of government in Great Britain, amounted, independently of the militia, &c. of Ireland, and of temporary augmentations, to very nearly five hundred thousand men. In 1811, the effective strength of the regular militia was 77,424 private men, whilst that of the local militia was 213,609. In 1819, the disembodied militia of Britain and Ireland, calculated from the estimates of the year, amounted in round numbers to 71,200; and in 1829, it amounted to 70,082, private men and drummers.

The balloting, enrolling, and exercising of the militia now only takes place at occasional periods, an act being generally passed during each session, suspending their annual recurrence. By 10 Geo. IV. c. 10, the staff of the disembodied militia was reduced; and, according to a recent return, amounted, after the reduction, to 127 adjutants, 127 sergeant-majors, 1692 sergeants, 82 drum-majors, and 669 drummers. A further reduction was authorized by 5 and 6 Wil. IV. c. 37, and made by an order in council of the 10th October 1835. It appears from a return to the House of Commons of the 7th July 1836, that the staff of the militia of the united kingdom at present receiving pay amounts to 119 adjutants, 123 sergeant-majors, and 845 sergeants. The cost of the militia of the united kingdom, including the half-pay of officers and non-commissioned officers, during each of the last three quarters of the year ending 31st March 1836, was, for the quarter ending 30th September 1835, L.25,985. 8s. 5½d; for that ending 31st December 1835, L.37,139. 8s. 4d.; and for that ending 31st March 1836, L.32,219. 16s. 10d. According to the estimates for 1836-37, the number of private men is, in Great Britain, 50,888; in Ireland 18,525. (M. M. M.)

Milk, a well-known fluid, prepared by nature in the breasts of women, and the udders of other animals, for the nourishment of their young.

According to Dr Cullen, milk is a connecting and intermediate substance between animals and vegetables. It seems to be immediately secreted from the chyle, both being a white liquor of the same consistence; it is most copiously secreted after meals, and is of an acescent nature. In most animals which live on vegetables the milk is acescent; and it is uncertain whether it is not so likewise in carnivorous animals. But, whatever there be in this, it is

Milk. certain that the milk of all animals which live on vegetables is acescent. Milk being derived from the chyle, we thence infer its vegetable nature; for in those who live on both promiscuously, a greater quantity of milk is obtained, and more quickly, from the vegetable than from the animal food. Milk, however, is not purely vegetable, though we have a vegetable liquor which resembles it in taste, consistence, colour, acescence, and the separability of the oily part, viz. an emulsion of the oleosae and farinaceous substances. But these want the coagulable part of milk, which seems to be of an animal nature, approaching to that of the coagulable lymph of the blood. Milk, then, appears to be of an intermediate nature between chyle taken up from the intestines and the fully elaborated animal fluid.

Its contents are of three kinds. First, there is an oily part, which, whatever may be said concerning the origin of other oils in the body, is certainly immediately derived from the oil of the vegetables taken into the stomach; for with these it agrees very exactly in its nature, and would do so entirely, if we could separate it fully from the coagulable part. Another mark of their agreement is the separability, which proves that the mixture has been lately attempted, but not fully performed. Secondly, besides this oily, there is a proper coagulable part. And, thirdly, much water accompanies both, in which there is dissolved a salino-saccharine substance. These three can be got separate in cheese, butter, and whey; but never perfectly so, a part of each being always blended with every other part.

Nothing is more common, from what has been said of its immediate nature, than to suppose that it requires no assimilation; and hence has been deduced the reason of its exhibition in the most weakly state of the human body. But wherever we can examine milk, we always find that it coagulates, suffers a decomposition, and becomes acescent. Again, infants, who feed entirely on milk, are always troubled with eructations, which every body observes are not of the same quality with the food taken; and therefore it appears, that, like all other food, milk turns naturally acescent in the stomach, and only enters the chyle and blood in consequence of a new recomposition. It approaches then to the nature of vegetable aliment, but is not capable of its noxious vinous fermentation, and therefore has an advantage over it. Neither, from this quality, is it like animal food, heating in the stomach, and productive of fever, though at the same time, from its quantity of coagulable matter, it is more nourishing than vegetables.

Milk is the food most universally suited to all ages and states of the body; but it seems chiefly designed by nature as the food of infants. When animals are in the foetal state, their solids are a perfect jelly, incapable of an assimilatory power. In such state nature has perfectly assimilated food, as the albumen ovi in the oviparous, and in the viviparous animals certainly somewhat of the same kind, as it was necessary that the vessels should be filled with such a fluid as would make way for an after assimilation. When the infant has attained a considerable degree of firmness, as when it is separated from the mother, such a degree of weakness still remains as makes somewhat of the same indication necessary; it behoves the infant to have an alkaline food ready prepared, and, at the same time, its noxious tendency to be avoided. Milk then is given, which is alkaline, and, at the same time, has a sufficient quantity of acidity to correct the alkaline quality. As the body advances in growth, and the alkaline tendency is greater, the animal, to obviate that tendency, is led to take vegetable food, as more suited to its strength of assimilation.

Dr Cullen observes, that milk is suited to almost all temperaments; and it is so to stomachs disposed to acescence, more than those substances which have undergone the vinous fermentation; nay, it even cures the heartburn,

checks vinous fermentation, and precipitates the lees, when, by renewal of fermentation, the wine happens to be fouled. It, therefore, very properly accompanies a great deal of vegetable aliment; although sometimes its acescence is troublesome, either from the large portion taken in, or from the degree of it; for, according to certain unaccountable circumstances, different acids are formed in the stomach in different states of the body, as in a healthy body a mild one, and in the hypochondriac disease one of a very acrid quality. When the acidity of milk is carried to a great degree, it may prove remarkably refrigerant, and occasion cold crudities, and the recurrence of intermittent fevers. To take the common notion of its passing unchanged into the blood, it can undergo no solution. But if we admit its coagulum in the stomach, then it may be reckoned amongst soluble or insoluble foods, according as that coagulum is more or less tenacious. Formerly rennet, which is employed to coagulate milk, was thought an acid; but, from late observations, it appears, that, if it be an acid, it is very different from other acids, and that its coagulum is stronger than that produced by acids. It has been imagined that a rennet, which causes coagulation of milk, is to be found in the stomachs of all animals; but according to Dr Cullen, the coagulation of milk seems to be owing to a weak acid in the stomach, the relics of vegetable food, inducing, in healthy persons, a weak and soluble coagulum; but in different stomachs this may be very different, in some becoming heavy and less soluble food, and may even be evacuated in a coagulated undissolved state both by stomach and stool.

As milk is acescent, it may be rendered purgative by mixture with the bile. Some examples of this have been remarked. But it is more commonly reckoned amongst those foods which occasion costiveness.

Hoffman, in his experiments upon milk, ascertained that all kinds of it contained much water; and when this was dissipated, he found the residuum very different in their solubility. But we must not thence conclude, that the same insolubility takes place in the stomach; for extracts made from vegetables with water are often very insoluble substances, and hardly diffusible through water itself. In Hoffman's extracts of milk, therefore, somewhat of the same kind might have appeared; and these substances, which in their natural state were not so, might appear very insoluble. However, we may allow that milk is always somehow insoluble in the intestines, as it is of a drying nature, and as cheese is very costive. And this effect shows that milk is always coagulated in the stomach; for if it remained fluid, no faeces would be produced, whereas sometimes very hard ones are observed. In the blood-vessels it may, from its animal nature, be considered as nutritious; but when we consider its vegetable contents, and acescence in the prima via, we find that, like animal food, it does not excite that degree of fever in the time of digestion, and that from its acescence it will resist putrefaction. Hence its use in hectic fevers, which, whatever be their cause, appear only to be exacerbations of natural feverish paroxysms, which occur twice every day, commonly after meals, and at night. To obviate these, therefore, we give such an aliment as produces the least exacerbation of these fevers; and of this nature is milk, on account of its acescent vegetable nature.

There also appears something peculiar to milk, which requires only a small exertion of the animal powers in order to its assimilation; and besides, in hectic complaints, there is wanted an oily, bland food, approaching to the animal nature; so that upon all these accounts milk is a diet peculiarly adapted to them, and, in general, to most convalescents, and to those of inflammatory temperaments.

The milks of women, mares, and asses, in a great measure agree in their qualities, being very dilute, having little

Milk. solid contents, and these, when evaporated to dryness, being very soluble, and containing much saccharine matter of a very ready accessency, and their coagulum being tender and easily broken down. From this view they have less oil, and seem to have less coagulable matter than the rest.

The milks of cows, sheep, and goats, agree in possessing qualities opposite to those just mentioned; but here there is somewhat more of gradation. Cow's milk comes nearest to the former. Goat's milk is less fluid, less sweet, less flatulent, and has the largest proportion of insoluble part after coagulation, and indeed the largest proportion of coagulable part; its oily and coagulable parts are not spontaneously separable, and it never throws out a cream, or admits of butter to be readily extracted from it. Hence the virtues of these milks are obvious, being more nourishing, though at the same time less easily soluble in weak stomachs, than the three kinds above mentioned, less acescent, and more rarely laxative, and peculiarly fitted for the diet of convalescents without fever. The other kinds again are less nourishing, more soluble, more laxative, from being more acescent, and adapted to convalescents with fever.

These qualities in particular milks are considerably diversified by different circumstances. First, different animals living on the same diet give a considerably different milk; for there seems to be something in the constitution, abstracting from the aliment, which constitutes a considerable diversity of milk, not only in the same species of animals, but also in the same animal, at different ages, and at different intervals after delivery. This also applies to the choice of nurses. Secondly, milk follows the nature of the aliment more than any other juice in the human body, being more or less fluid and dilute, and more or less solid and nourishing, in proportion as these qualities are more or less in the aliment. The nature of the aliment differs according to its time of growth, old grass being always found more nourishing than young. Aliment, too, is always varied according to the season, as that is warm or dry, moist or cloudy.

The milk of each particular kind of animal is fitter for particular purposes, when fed on proper food. Thus the cow delights in the succulent herbage of the valley; if the sheep be fed there he certainly rots, but on the higher and more dry side of the mountain he feeds pleasantly and healthily; whilst the goat never stops near the bottom, but ascends to the craggy summit. The milks of these animals, therefore, are always best upon their proper soil; and that of goats is best in a mountainous country. In a dissertation of Linnaeus, we find many observations concerning the diversity of plants on which each animal chuses to feed. All the Swedish plants which could be collected together were presented alternately to domestic animals, and then it appeared that the goat lived on the greatest variety, and even on many which were poisonous to the rest; and that the cow chose the first succulent shoots of the plant, and neglected the fructification, which was preferred by the goat. Hence may be deduced rules concerning the pasturage of different animals. Thus farmers find, that, in a pasture which was only fit to feed a certain number of sheep, an equal number of goats may be introduced, whilst the sheep are no less nourished than before.

It is not easy to assign the difference between milk fresh drawn and that detained in the open air for some time; but certainly there is some material one, otherwise nature would not have directed infants universally to sucking; and indeed it seems better fitted for digestion and nourishment than the other. Physicians have supposed that this depended on the evaporation of some spirit; but Linnaeus cannot conceive any thing except common water here; and besides, these volatile parts can hardly be nutritious. A more plausible account seems deducible from mixture.

Milk. newly drawn and recently mixed is exposed to spontaneous separation, a circumstance hurtful to digestion; none of the parts being, by themselves, so easily assimilated as when they are all taken together. Hence milk newly drawn is more intimately blended, and therefore is most proper to weak persons and to infants.

Another difference in the use of milk exposed for some time to the air, is taking it boiled or unboiled. Physicians have generally recommended the former; but the reason is not easily assigned. Perhaps it may be that milk kept for some time exposed to the air has gone so far towards a spontaneous separation; whereas the heat thoroughly blends the whole, and hence its resolution is not so easy in the stomach; and thus boiled milk is more costive than raw, and gives more feces. Again, when milk is boiled, a considerable quantity of air is detached, as appears from the froth on the surface; and air is the chief instrument of fermentation in bodies; so that after this process it is not liable to accessency. For these reasons it is proper for the robust and vigorous.

Another difference of milk is, according as it is fluid or coagulated. The coagulated is of two kinds; either as induced by rennet, or occasioned by the natural accessency of the milk. The former preparation makes the firmer and less easily soluble coagulum; but, when taken with the whey unseparated, it is less difficult of solution, though more so than any other coagulum in the same case. Many nations use the latter form, which is more easily soluble, but very acescent, and therefore, in point of solution, should be confined to the vigorous, or to those who live on alkaliescent food; in fact, the Laplanders use it as their chief acescent condiment. From the same considerations it is more cooling, and in its other effects it is similar to all other acescent vegetables.

Milk by evaporation yields a sweet saline matter, of which Dr Lewis gives the following proportions:

The saline substance extracted from ass's milk was white, and as sweet as sugar; that of the others was brown or yellow, and considerably less sweet; that from cow's milk had the least sweetness of any.

On distilling twelve quarts of milk in balneo maria, at least nine quarts of pure phlegm were obtained. The liquor which afterwards arose was acidulous, and by degrees grew sensibly more and more acid as the distillation was continued. After this came over a little spirit, and at last the empyreumatic oil. The remaining solid matter adhered to the bottom of the retort, in the form of elegant shining black flowers, which being calcined and elixated, yielded a portion of fixed alkaline salt.

Milk set in a warm place throws up to the surface an unctuous cream, from which, by agitation, the butter is easily separated. The addition of alkaline salts prevents this separation, not, as some have supposed, by absorbing an acid from the milk, but by virtue of their property of intimately uniting oily bodies with watery substances. Sugar, another intermedium between oils and water, has this effect in a greater degree, though that concrete is by no means alkaline, nor an absorbent of acids.

The sweet saccharine part of the milk remains dissolved in the whey after the separation of the curd or fromaginous matter, and may be collected from it in a white crys-

talline form, by boiling the whey till all remains of the curdled substance have fallen to the bottom; then filtering, evaporating it to a due consistence, setting it to shoot, and purifying the crystals by solution in water and a second crystallization. Much has been said of the medicinal virtues of this sugar of milk, but it does not seem to have any that are considerable. It is from cow's milk that it has been generally prepared; and the crystals obtained from this kind have but little sweetness.

When milk is suffered to coagulate spontaneously, the whey proves acid, and on standing grows more and more so until the putrefactive state commences. Sour whey is used as an acid, preferable to the directly vegetable or the mineral acids, in some of the chemical arts, as for dissolving iron in order to stain linen and leather. In the bleaching of linen this acid was commonly made use of for dissolving and extracting the earthy particles left in the cloth by the alkaline salts and lime employed for cleansing and whitening it. Butter milk is preferred to plain sour milk or sour whey, being supposed to give the cloth a yellow colour. Dr Home, in his treatise on this subject, recommends water acidulated with sulphuric acid, in the proportion of about half an ounce, or at most three quarters of an ounce, to a gallon, as preferable in many respects to the acid of milk, or that of any directly vegetable substance. He observes, that the latter are often difficult to be procured, abound with oleaginous particles, and hasten to corruption, whilst the vitriolic acid is cheap and pure, without any tendency to putrify; that milk takes five days to perform its office, whilst the vitriolic acid does it in as many hours, perhaps in as many minutes; and that this acid contributes also to whiten the cloth, and does not make it weaker though the cloth be kept in it for months. He states, that acids, as well as alkalies, extract an oily matter from the cloth, and lose their acidity and alkalinity. Since this treatise appeared, the use of sour milk has been entirely superseded by sulphuric acid.

It is observable, that ass's milk has a great tendency, on standing for a little time, to become thick and ropy. In the Breslau collection for the year 1720, there is a remarkable account of milk which had grown so thick and tenacious as to be drawn out into long strings.

New cow's milk, suffered to stand for some days on the leaves of butterwort or sun-dew, becomes uniformly thick, slippery, and coherent, and of an agreeable sweet taste, without any separation of its parts. Fresh milk added to this is thickened in the same manner, and this successively. In some parts of Sweden, milk is thus prepared for food.

New milk has a certain glutinous quality, in consequence of which it is used for joining broken stone ware. There is a far greater tenacity in cheese properly prepared.

Milk, when examined by a microscope, appears composed of numerous globules swimming in a transparent fluid. It boils in nearly the same degree of heat with common water; some sorts rather sooner, and others a little later. After boiling it has less tendency to become sour than in its natural state. It is coagulated by acids both mineral and vegetable, and by alkalies both fixed and volatile. The coagulum produced by acids falls to the bottom of the serum; that made by alkalies swims on the surface, commonly forming a thick coriaceous skin, especially with volatile alkalies. The serum, with alkalies, proves green or sanious; with acids, it differs little in appearance from the whey which separates spontaneously. The coagulum formed by acids is dissolved by alkalies, and that formed by alkalies is redissolved by acids; but the milk does not in either case resume its original properties. It is coagulated by most of the middle salts, the basis of which is an earth or a metallic body, as solution of alum, fixed sal-ammoniac, sugar of lead, green and blue vitriol; but not by the chalybeate or purging mineral waters, nor by the bit-

ter salt extracted from the purging waters. Amongst the neutral salts which have been tried, there is not one that produces any coagulation. They all dilute the milk, and make it less disposed to coagulate with acids or alkalies. Nitre seems to have this effect in a greater degree than the other neutral salts. It is instantly coagulated by highly rectified spirit of wine, but scarcely by a phlegmatic spirit. It does not mingle with expressed oils. All the coagula are dissolved by gall.

It has generally been supposed by medical authors, that the milk of animals is of the same nature with chyle, and that the human milk always coagulates in the stomach of infants; but in a dissertation upon the subject published by Mr Clarke, member of the Royal Irish Academy, we find both these positions controverted. According to him, women's milk, in a healthy state, contains no coagulable, mucilaginous, or fromaginous principle, in its composition, or it contains so little, that it cannot admit of any sensible proof. Dr Rutty states, that it does not afford even a sixth part of the curd which is yielded by cow's milk; and Dr Young denies that it is at all coagulable either by rennets or acids. This is confirmed by Dr Ferris, who, in the year 1782, gained the Harveian prize medal by a dissertation upon milk. Mr Clarke informs us, that he made a great number of experiments upon women's milk, with a view to determine this point. He made use of ardent spirits, all the different acids, infusions of infants' stomachs, and procured the milk of a great many different women; but in no instance, excepting one or two, did he perceive any thing like curd. This took place in consequence of a spontaneous accebery; and only a small quantity of soft flaky matter was formed, which floated in the serum. This he looked upon as a morbid appearance.

The general opinion that women's milk is coagulable has arisen from the single circumstance that infants frequently vomit the milk which they suck in a state of apparent coagulation. This greatly perplexed Dr Young, who, after having tried in vain to coagulate human milk artificially, concluded that the process took place spontaneously in the stomach; and that it would always do so if the milk were allowed to remain in a degree of heat equal to about 96° of Fahrenheit. Mr Clarke took equal quantities of three different kinds of milk, and put them into bottles slightly corked, and these bottles into water, the temperature of which was kept up by a spirit of wine lamp as near as possible to 96° of Fahrenheit; but after frequently examining each bottle during the course of the experiment, at the expiration of several hours there was not the smallest tendency towards coagulation to be perceived in any of them. The cream was only thrown to the surface in a thick and adhesive form, and entirely separated from the fluid below, which had something of a grey and wheyish appearance. As the matter vomited by infants is sometimes more adhesive than we can suppose cream to be, Mr Clarke supposed that the curd might be so entangled with the cream as to be with difficulty separated from it; but having collected a quantity of rich cream from the milk of different women, he repeated the experiment with precisely the same result, not being able in any one instance to produce the smallest quantity of curd. To determine, however, what effects might be produced upon milk by the stomach of an infant, Mr Clarke made the following experiment. Having taken out the stomach of a fetus which had been deprived of life by the use of instruments, he infused it in a small quantity of hot water, so as to make a strong infusion. He added a tea-spoonful of this infusion to equal quantities of cow's and human milk, the consequence of which was, that the cow's milk was firmly coagulated in a short time, but the human milk was not altered in the least; neither was the least coagulation produced by adding a second and a third spoonful to the human milk. "Upon

Milk. the whole, then," says he "I am persuaded it will be found that human milk, in a healthy state, contains little or no curd, and that the general opinion of its nature and properties is founded upon fallacious analogy and superficial observations made on the matter vomited by infants. We may presume, that the cream of women's milk, by its inferior specific gravity, will swim on the surface of the contents of the stomach; and being of an oily nature, that it will be of more difficult digestion than any other constituent part of milk. When an infant, then, sucks very plentifully, so as to over-distend the stomach, or labours under any weakness in the powers of digestion, it cannot appear unreasonable to suppose that the cream shall be first rejected by vomiting. Analogous to this, we know that adults affected with dyspepsia often bring up greasy fluids from the stomach by eructation, and this especially after eating fat meat. We have, in some instances, known this to blaze, when thrown into the fire, like spirit of wine or oil." Of this opinion he derives a confirmation from the observation, that curds vomited by infants of a few days old are yellow, whilst in the course of a fortnight or three weeks they become white. This he accounts for from the yellow colour of the cream thrown up by the milk of women during the first four or five days after delivery.

Mr Clarke likewise controverts the common opinion, that human milk is so prone to acidity that a great number of the diseases of children are to be accounted for from that cause. "Whoever," says he, "takes the trouble of attentively comparing human milk with that of ruminant animals, will soon find it to be much less prone to run into the acescent or acid process. I have very often exposed equal quantities of human and cow's milk in degrees of temperature varying from the common summer heat, or 65°, to 100°; and I have constantly found that cow's milk acquires a greater degree of acidity in thirty-six hours than the human did in many days. Cow's milk becomes offensively putrid in four or five days; a change which healthy human milk, exposed in the same manner, will not undergo in many weeks, nay, sometimes in many months. I once kept a few ounces of a nurse's milk, delivered about six or seven days, for more than two years in a bottle moderately corked. It stood on the chimney-piece, and was frequently opened to be examined. At the end of this period, it showed evident marks of moderate acidity, whether examined by the taste, smell, or paper stained with vegetable blues or purples; the latter it changed to a florid red colour; whereas cow's milk kept a few days changed the colour of the same paper to a green, thereby clearly showing its putrescent tendency."

He next proceeds to consider the probability there is of milk becoming so frequently and strongly acid as to occasion most of the diseases of infants. He begins with an attempt to show that the phenomena commonly regarded as indications of acrimony are by no means certain. Curdled milk has already been shown to be no sign of acidity; and the other appearance, which has commonly been thought to be so certain, namely, green faeces, is, in the opinion of Mr Clarke, equally fallacious. In support of this he quotes a letter from Dr Sydenham to Dr Cole, in which the former says, that the green matter vomited by hysterical women is not any proof of acrid humours being the cause of that disease, for sea-sick people do the same. The opinion that green faeces are an effect of acidity, proceeds upon the supposition that a mixture of bile with an acid produces a green colour; but it is found that the vegetable acid, which only can exist in the human body, is unable to produce this change of colour, though it can be effected by the strong mineral acids. As nothing equivalent to any of these acids can be supposed to exist in the bowels of infants, we must therefore adopt some other method of accounting for the green faeces frequently eva-

uated by them. "Why should sour milk, granting its existence, give rise to them in infants, and not in adults? Have butter-milk, summer fruits of the most acescent kind, lemon or orange juice, always this effect in adults by their admixture with bile? This is a question which, I believe, cannot be answered in the affirmative."

Upon the whole, Mr Clarke considers the disease of acidity in the bowels, though so frequently mentioned, as by no means common. He owns, indeed, that it may sometimes occur in infancy as well as in adult age, from weakness of the stomach, costiveness, or improper food; and an indubitable evidence is afforded by faeces which stain the blue or purple colour of vegetables to a red, though nothing can be inferred with certainty from the colour or smell.

He then proceeds to state several reasons for his opinion, that the greater number of infantile diseases are not owing to acidity. First, women's milk, in a healthy state, contains little or no coagulable matter or curd. Secondly, it shows less tendency out of the body to become acescent than many other kinds of milk. Thirdly, the appearances which have been generally supposed to characterize its acidity do not afford satisfactory evidence of such a morbid cause. Fourthly, granting this to be the case, we have plenty of mild absorbents, capable of destroying all the acid which can be supposed to be generated in the bowels of an infant; yet many children are observed to die in consequence of these diseases, which are supposed to arise from acidity. Fifthly, though the milk of all ruminant animals is of a much more acescent nature than that of the human species, yet the young of these animals never suffer any thing like the diseases attributed to acidity in infants. Sixthly, history informs us that whole nations use sour curdled milk as a considerable part of their food, without feeling any inconvenience; which, however, must have been the case if acidity in the stomach were productive of such deleterious effect as has been supposed. This reasoning appears to be very plausible, and nothing has as yet been offered to contradict it.

In a memoir by MM. Parmentier and Deyeux, members of the Royal College of Pharmacy in Paris, we have an account of a great number of experiments on the milk of asses, cows, goats, sheep, and mares, as well as women. The experiments on cow's milk were made with a view to determine whether any change was produced in the milk by the different kinds of food eaten by the animal. For this purpose some were fed with the leaves of maize, others with cabbage, others with small potatoes, and others with common grass. The milk of those fed with the maize was extremely sweet; that from the potatoes and common grass was much more serous and insipid; and that from the cabbages proved the most disagreeable of all. By distillation only eight ounces of a colourless fluid were obtained from as many pounds of each of these milks; that obtained from those which fed upon grass had an aromatic flavour; whilst a disagreeable one resulted from cabbage, and none at all from the potatoes and maize. This liquid became fetid in the space of a month, whatever substance the animal had been fed with, acquiring at the same time a viscosity, and becoming turbid; that from cabbage generally, but not always, becoming first putrid. All of them separated a filamentous matter, and became clear on being exposed to the heat of 25° of Reaumur's thermometer. In the residuum of distillation no difference whatever could be perceived. As the only difference therefore existing in cow's milk consists in the volatile part, our authors conclude that it is improper to boil milk either for common or medicinal purposes. They observed also that any sudden change of food, even from a worse to a better kind, was attended by a very remarkable diminution in the quantity of milk. The residuum of the distillation yielded, in a strong fire, a yellow oil and acid, a thick and black em-

Milk. pyreumatic oil, a volatile alkali, and towards the end a quantity of inflammable air, and at last a coal remained containing some fixed alkali with muriatic acid.

On agitating in long bottles the cream from the milk of cows fed with different substances, all of them were formed into a kind of half-made butter, of which that formed from the milk of maize was white, firm, and insipid, that from potatoes was softer and more pinguinous, and that from common grass was the best of all. Cabbage, as in other cases, gave a strong taste.

In the course of these experiments, an endeavour was made to determine whether butter is actually contained in the cream, or whether it be a chemical production of the operation of churning. They could not find any reason absolutely satisfactory on either side, but incline to the latter opinion; because when cream has been allowed to remain amongst the milk, and the whole curdled promiscuously, fat cheese, without any butter, is produced. The oily parts cannot be separated into butter either by acids or any other means than churning; even the artificial mixture of oil with the cream is insufficient for the purpose.

The serum of milk was reduced by filtration to a clear and pellucid liquor; and, by mixture with fixed alkali, it deposited a portion of fromaginous matter which had been dissolved in the whey. The sugar of milk was also found in this liquor.

In these experiments upon the milk of various animals, it was found that that of asses yielded by distillation an insipid liquor, and deposited a liquor similar to the lymph of cow's milk. This kind is coagulated by all the acids, but not into an uniform mass, exhibiting only the appearance of distinct flocculi. It affords but little cream, which is with difficulty converted into a soft butter, that soon becomes rancid. It has but a small quantity of saccharine particles, and these are often mixed with muriatic selenite and common salt. Goat's milk has a thick cream, which is agreeable to the taste; and the milk itself may be preserved longer in a sound state than any other species, the scum on its surface being naturally convertible into palatable cheese. It is easily made into firm butter, which does not soon become rancid, and has a good flavour. The butter-milk contains a large quantity of fromaginous matter, which readily coagulates; but it has still less saccharine matter than that of asses. Sheep's milk can scarcely be distinguished from that of a cow, and easily parts with its cream by standing. It is of a yellow colour, of an agreeable flavour, and yields a great proportion of butter; but this is not solid, and soon becomes rancid. Mare's milk is the most insipid and least nutritious of any, notwithstanding which it has been much recommended for weak and consumptive patients. It is probable that, in such cases, it proves efficacious by being more consonant than any other to the debilitated powers of digestion. It boils with a smaller fire than any other kind of milk, is easily coagulated, and the distilled water does not so soon change its nature. It has but a small quantity of fromaginous matter, and very few oily particles. The cream cannot be made into butter; and the whey contains about as much sugar as cow's or goat's milk.

It has also been remarked, that in order to augment the quantity, as well as to improve the quality, of the milk of animals, they should be well fed, their stalls kept clean, and their litter frequently renewed. They should be milked at stated hours, but not drained; and great attention should be paid to the breed, because inferior cattle are maintained at as great expense as the most valuable kinds. No change ought to be made in the food; although, if the milk be employed for medicinal purposes, it may be improved by a proper mixture of herbs.

In their experiments on women's milk, MM. Parmenier and Deyeux differ somewhat from Mr Clarke. They

first tried the milk of a woman who had been delivered four months before, and observed that, after the cream had been separated, the other part appeared of a more perfect white, and that it could not be coagulated either by vinegar or mineral acids, a circumstance which they attributed to a superabundance of serum. But they found that in proportion to the age of the milk it was more easily coagulable; and this was confirmed by experiments made upon the milk of twenty nurses. Its coagulability was not increased by heat. The cream, by agitation, formed a viscous unctuous matter, which, however, could not be changed into perfect butter; but they found it extremely difficult to determine the proportions of the various component parts of human milk, as it differs remarkably, not only in different subjects, but in the same subject at different times. In a nurse aged about thirty-two years, who was extremely subject to nervous affections, the milk was one day found almost quite colourless and transparent; in two hours afterwards, a second quantity drawn from the breast was viscous like the white of an egg; and in a short time it became whiter, but did not recover its natural colour until the evening. It was afterwards found that these changes were occasioned by the woman having in the mean time had some violent hysterical fits.

Milk of Vegetables. For the same reason that the milk of animals may be considered as a true animal emulsion, the liquors of vegetables may be termed vegetable milks. Accordingly emulsions made with almonds are commonly called milk of almonds. But besides this vegetable milk, which is in some measure artificial, many plants and trees contain naturally a large quantity of emulsive or milky juices. Of this kind are lettuce, spurge, fig-tree, and the tree which furnishes the elastic American resin. The milky juices obtained from all these vegetables derive their whiteness from an oily matter, mixed and undissolved in a watery or mucilaginous liquor. Most resinous gums are originally such milky juices, which afterwards become solid by the evaporation of their more fluid and volatile parts.