As the milk of mares and asses can not be procured in quantity in this country, it is necessary, if preparations like koumiss are to be made, to employ for this purpose the milk of cows. Under the name of galazyme, a fermented liquor analogous to koumiss was first proposed by Schneep. This is made by the addition to milk of sugar and a ferment, the carbonic acid and alcohol being produced by the fermentation of the cane-sugar, the lactose of the milk remaining unchanged. The formula he gives js as follows:

To every litre (quart) of milk he adds three parts of cane- and five parts of milk-sugar and some brewer's yeast. The mixture is put aside in a suitable temperature until the fermentation has reached the proper point, care being taken to stop the process before reaching the acetic and lactic-acid stage. Deschiens has proposed another formula which has some advantages. He employs the yeast now made for the manufacture of high-grade alcohols, and mixes one drachm of this with two and a half drachms of sugar in some water; this solution is placed in a quart of milk, and the whole is then allowed to proceed to the alcoholic fermentation in the ordinary way. When the process has reached the proper stage, the galazyme is put into strong bottles, the corks fastened in the way the sparkling wines are now inclosed.

A fermented milk analogous to koumiss is prepared in the Caucasus under the name of kefyr. The fermentation is set up in the milk by the addition to it of a ferment known as kefyr, which is a microbe having peculiar qualities. The microbe ferment of milk—the oidiurn lactis—under appropriate conditions, transforms the lactose or sugar of milk into lactic acid; but kefyr—the dispora caucasica— changes it into alcohol and carbonic acid. The difference in composition of milk and kefyr has been shown by chemical analysis to consist in a diminution in the kefyr of the albumen, fat, and sugar, and the addition of lactic alcohol and carbonic acid.

The quantity of alcohol in kefyr and galazyme varies from one half of one per cent to three per cent, and is determined by the extent to which the fermentation has been carried. The amount of carbonic acid, on the presence of which the sparkling character depends, is governed by the stage to which the fermentation has gone at the time of bottling. When completed and bottled, it presents a milky appearance, and on pouring it out from the bottle containing it, effervesces finely, and is covered with an abundant foam. The taste is fresh, slightly acid, and a little pungent, like the ordinary carbonated waters. There is probably no difference between koumiss, galazyme, and kefyr, in respect to their action on digestion and assimilation, and hence the domestic preparation, if properly made, may be substituted for the more expensive imported koumiss.