"Milk Cure"

The "milk cure" has been carried out successfully by Pecholier, Weir Mitchell, Karell, and others for the treatment of obstinate hysteria, hepatic congestion, dropsy, and various anomalies of nutrition. The patient is given no food but milk, which Pecholier orders every two hours in small amount, increasing the quantity until three litres a day are taken. Mitchell commences with doses of half an ounce to two ounces every two or three hours, and increases the dosage by half an ounce until sixty ounces or more are taken. If the taste of milk is disagreeable, coffee, salt, or caramel is added. If thirst is complained of, natural water or Seltzer water is given. After three or four weeks, rice, arrowroot, and thin slices of white bread are allowed, and after five weeks raw meat or one or two cutlets. The milk, meanwhile, is continued. After a day or two of this treatment, hunger and thirst are not usually complained of. At first the pulse is accelerated, but there is seldom any conspicuous nervousness. The tongue is coated, the water in the urine is increased, there is obstinate constipation (which must be relieved by enemata or medicines), the stools are hard and ochre or white in colour, and a great deal of epigastric distress and feeling of emptiness are present.

The arterial tension is lowered; there may be muscular prostration. There is loss of weight at first. If the treatment is persevered in, at the end of a fortnight there is marked improvement in the feelings and condition of the patient, and after six or eight weeks the cure is usually far advanced.

Chemical Composition Of Milk

The chemical ingredients which make milk valuable as a food are water, salts, fats, milk sugar or lactose, and albuminous materials, chiefly casein, with some albumin. Scheibe and Henkel claim to have found traces of citric acid in normal cow's milk.

The published analyses of milk vary slightly, chiefly in regard to the quantity of fats observed.

The following analyses are placed together for comparison:

The above London Dairy analysis is based upon the examination of 120,000 samples of milk conducted by the chemist to the dairy during a period of twelve years. The third analysis is by Dr. J. Carter Bell, an English public analyst, and the fourth is by Prof. Albert H. Leeds.