Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-07-06
UNI ITT| WTT 7 !
Hints on Milk.

hAnlN VII mllhs
While the subject Of milk is so emphatic
ally before the public, perhaps we may do
well to scrutinze its qualities a little more
closely than usual. We have so long heard
milk quoted as the model food, We have such
charming individual recollections Of flowing
pals and odorous cups, away back in the
time when the heart was young aud the
world was new and everything tasted good
to our youthful appetites, that we are very
apt to think that if we could now 90 back to
the same food, We should enjoy the same re-
suits. But when such fancies come, We like
lloLNEs, forget the difficulties that lie in the
way Of our being boys again. We ceased
TO be babes a long while ago Our teeth
came, and they demanded solid food. BY
the time the mouth was full We ought to have
considered the demand quite emphatic. Per-
haps this was the time when nature would
have weaned us if our mothers had been as
strong as-as the antediluvians. But in the
interval between weaving and full dentition,
we drank cows milk, and nature kept on
speaking; for milk when drank does not d.
gest so readily as when drawn and mingled
with the saliva thrown out from the glands
by the motion Of the mouth. Then nature
changed the character of the gastric juice, a
fact well exempli6ed in the rennet with
which we make cheese. The action of the
rennet depends on the gastric juice it may
contain, which curdles the milk the first OPP
GRAFTON performed in natural digestion in the
stomach. But all cheese makers know that
the rennct of calf produces this effect far
more readily than that of grown bovine.
So, if "milk is good for babies" and easily
digested by them, it does not follow that it
is good for men. | know this goes against
our prejudices but if we wish to know the
truth, we will put aside prejudice and look
calmly into facts
1t is true that the Arabs and some other
healthy and long-lived people live largely on
milk. But they have very simple habits
they live much in the open air, and they do not
eat so many other bad things as we do.
Moreover, when we oblige the stomach to di-
gest certain kind of diet, the gastric juice
will, to some extent, adapt itself to the cmer.
gency but it does not follow that milk, even
with this adaptation, is the best possible food
for man. No doubt milk is better than some
other things we eat, and hence sick people
often recover on it more readily than when
eating all manner Of things that their fancy
may crave; but that does not prove that il
is the best food they could have.
A great many people have found out il
various ways, that milk was not good for
them but they have been commonly regard
ed as exceptions to a natural rule. Still many
others do not eat it either from choice or ne
cessity, and thus the experiment is narrowed
But one Of the most generally recognized
tendencies Of the use of mix is to produce
constipation, and this causes so thorough O
deflement of the blood that no person can re.
main long in health while afflicted Herewith
If he is not sick at once, he is doing worse;
he is laying the foundation of chronic disease
that will almost certainly cause serious trou.
bic in the future. With active habits the re-
suits may not be so bad, but for sedentary
people the experiment is dangerous. Scalded
milk, custards, cheese, and milk put into vari
GUS culinary preparations are still more hurt.
ful. Cream is supposed to be the least hurt.
full of any Of the products Of milk.
We have thus far been speaking of milk il
its best condition, but there are many consid
erations affecting the wholesomeness of milk
which are largely overlooked In the frs
place, it is very questionable whether the
flow of milk from any COW is perfectly healthy
after the period when the calf would naturally
have been weaned, say three or four months
This period may be difficult to decide pre-.
cisely, but the fact of difference is very no.
tlceable in the case where il is fed to a young
child. Its delicate organs cannot throw Of
Impurities like older stomachs hence the
Importance often insisted upon of obtaining
milk for such child from a new mich cow
There can be no doubt that the diversion Of
some portion Of the nutrition to the produc.
tion Of further progeny affects the COW 5 milk
but where this is not the case, the continu.
ance Of the secretion for an unnatural period
affords kind of sluiceway for carrying of
much OF the waste matter from the body Of
the animal, which accounts for the difference
In the healthfulness Of milk from a new mich
and from farrow COW. Very few of us,
fancy, even If we suppose our digestives strong
enough to master it, would yet quite relish
the idea Of such seasoning. We, the best OF
us, have impurities enough of our own to dis.
pose Of without adding those of other ami.
mails.
know there will be quoted any number oil
cases where families, remarkably healthy
have been brought up on milk, and their
health is, Of course, attributed to that fact
But on examination it will probably appear
that these families were very simple in Their
diet in other respects, perhaps abjuring tea
aud coffee, and eating much corn and other
course bread, aud mushes and fruit recall
one such family now, not sedentary in their
habits, considered very healthy; but when !
came to know them intimately, found them
nearly all afflicted with constipation, and some
even with piles; but this cause of the Difficult.
ty was not suspected until one of the number
went away to school, where, in spite of very
sedentary habits, the difficulty was greatly
lessened. A few vacation experiences showed
that the relief was due to the absence of mill,
from the diet the result was communicated
TO the others, experiments were tried, and
milk was finally dismissed TO the benefit Of
all concerned.
Besides this, at any time the influence Of
any unhealthy condition or hurtiul food on
tts animal is naturally thrown into the milk
as the readicst method of self-preservation.
This has been repeatedly exemplifed in the
case Of sows fed on distillery slops to the de.
struction Of their young aud very remarka.
bly, in the milk-sickness Of the West, where
the milk, butter and cream prove fatal 70
those who partake Of them while the animal
Is yet in an apparently healthful condition
These are very suggestive facts; and the
thoughtful, those who regard it worth then
while to put their bodies into the best posi-.
Bile condition, will hardly let them pass with.
out careful consideration.