This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
The milk of a cow, she-goat, she-camel, ewe, she-buffalo, mare, she-elephant, or of a woman, is what generally comes to the use of man. *
The milk is the white fluid essence of drugs and cereals, which enter into the food of the aforesaid milk-giving animals, and is therefore the best of all nutritive substances (literally life-giving). It is heavy, sweet, slimy, cold, glossy, emollient, laxative and mild.
Hence it proves congenial to all sentient animals. And since milk is kindred in its nature to the essential principles of life and so very congenial to the panzoism of all created animals, its use may be unreservedly recommended to all, and is not forbidden in diseases due to the deranged action of (Vayu) or Pittam, or in ailments affecting the mind (Mansa), or the vascular system of man. Its beneficial and curative efficacy may be witnessed in cases of chronic fever, in cough, dyspnoea, phthisis and other wasting diseases, in Gulma (abdominal glands), insanity, ascites, epileptic fits, in vertigo, in delirium, in burning sensation of the body, in thirst, in diseases affecting the heart and the bladder, in chlorosis and dysentery, in piles, colic and obstinate constipation, in Grahani, Pravahika, miscarriage and other diseases peculiar to the female reproductive organs, and in haemoptysis. It is a refrigerant and acts as a bracing beverage after physical exercise. It is a sacred, constructive, tonic, spermato-poietic, rejuvenating and aphrodisiac. It expands the intellectual capacities of a man, brings about the adhesion of broken or fractured bones (Sandhana) rejuvenates used and exhausted frames, forms an excellent enemata, increases the duration of life, and acts as a vitaliser. It is an emetic and a purgative remedy, and imparts a healthy rotundity to the frame, and which through its kindred or similar properties augments the quality of bodily albumen (Ojah) and is the most complete and wholesome diet for infants, old men and persons suffering from cachexia witnessed in cases of ulcers in the chest, as well as for persons debilitated from insufficient food, sexual excesses or excessive, physical labour.
* From the construction of the present sentence in the original texts, we are warranted to include the milk of a doe, or of a she-mule, or of a cow-rhinoceros in the list, as they sometimes prove beneficial for external applications.
Cow-milk is demulcent, and does not set up or increase the normal quantity of slimy secretions in the internal channels of the body. It is heavy and is a good elixir, and proves curative in haemoptysis. It is cold, and sweet both in taste and chemical reaction. It subdues both Vayu and Pittam and is accordingly one of the most efficient of vitalising agents.
The milk of a she-goat is possessed of properties similar to those of a cow, and is specially beneficial to persons suffering from phthisis. * It is light, astringent, appetising (Dipana), and is efficacious in dyspnoea, cough and haemoptysis (Amlapitta - A. T.). The milk of a she-goat proves curative in all diseases owing to the smallness of her limbs and her agile habits, as well as for the fact of her drinking comparatively a less quantity of water and living upon bitter and pungent herbs. The milk of a she-camel is parchifying, heating, light, palatable and possessed of a little saline taste. It proves curative in oedema, abdominal glands, ascites, piles, intestinal worms and Kushtha, and is a good antitoxic agent. The milk of a ewe is sweet, demulcent, heavy and proves aggravating in disorders of Pittam and Kapham. It forms a good diet in Kevalavata and in cough due to the deranged condition of the bodily Vayu.
The milk of a she-buflfalo is sweet in taste, tends to impair digestion and increases the slimy secretion of the organs. It is heavy, soporific, cooling, and contains more fatty matter than cow's milk.
The milk of a she-animal with unbifurcated hoofs (Ekashapha) such as, the mare, etc., is tonic, light, parchifying, sweet and acid in taste, leaving a saline after-taste, and proving curative in cases of rheumatism restricted to the extremities.
* It has been recently discovered by a German physician that tuberculosis bacilli do no not thrive in goat's-blood - Translator.
The milk of a woman is cold and sweet, leaving an astringent after-taste. It proves beneficial as an errhine and acts as a good wash in eye diseases. It is wholesome, vitalising, light and appetising. The milk of a she-elephant is sweet though it leaves an astringent after-taste. It is spermatopoietic, heavy, demulcent, cooling and tonic. It invigorates the eyesight.
The milk of a she-animal, milched in the morning, is heavy, cold and takes a long time to be digested owing to her entire repose (literally want of physical exercise or locomotion) during the night, when cooling attributes preponderate. Similarly, the milk milched in the evening is found to be possessed of refrigerant and eye-invigorating properties. Moreover, it restores the bodily Vayu to its normal condition owing to the physical labour undergone by the animal in the day time, exposed to the rays of the sun and the currents of free air. Cold or unboiled milk is extremely heavy, and serves to increase the slimy secretions of the organs, whereas by boiling it is freed from those injurious traits. But this rule does not hold good in the case of woman's milk, which is wholesome in its natural or unboiled state. Freshly milched warm milk should be regarded as extremely wholesome, which, being cooled down, loses its efficacious virtues and becomes unwholesome. On the contrary, over-cooked milk is heavy and fat-making 55
 
Continue to: