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Milk, Composition Of
As a form of food which we can regard as a type of all others, there is none so perfect as milk. "It really represents," says Dr. Lankester, "all the food of which we partake which is not medicinal." That milk is a type of all food is found in the fact that the young of all the higher mammalia are fed on this food for several months, many of them for above a year, and get no other article of diet. During this period they grow very rapidly, and increase in size; consequently, they must have obtained all that which constitutes their muscle, their nerve, their bone, and every other tissue, from the milk they take as food. So that milk must contain the essentials of all food. As to the exact composition of milk, one pound of cow's milk contains:-- ozs. grs. 1. Water . . . . 13 333 2. Caseine . . . . 0 350 3. Butter . . . 0 245 4. Sugar . . . . 0 315 5. Mineral Matter . . . 0 70 The same weight of ass's milk contains:-- ozs. grs. 1. Water . . . . 14 76 2. Caseine . . . 0 140 3. Butter . . . . 0 105 4. Sugar . . . . 0 420 5. Mineral Matter . . . 0 35