Condensed milk, when not thoroughly boiled in the process of condensation, is liable to harbor disease-germs the same as any other milk.

CREAM.

Cream varies in composition according to the circumstances under which it rises.

The composition of an average specimen as given by Letherby is:—­

Nitrogenous matter............................................ 2.7
Fat.........................................................

. 26.7
Sugar of milk................................................. 2.8
Mineral matter................................................ 1.8
Water.......................................................

. 66.0

In the process of churning; the membranes of casein which surround each of the little globules constituting the cream are broken, and the fat of which they are composed becomes a compact mass known as butter.  The watery looking residue containing casein, sugar of milk, mineral matter, and a small proportion of fat, comprises the buttermilk.

Skim-milk, or milk from which the cream has been removed, and buttermilk are analogous in chemical composition.

The composition of each, according to Dr. Edward Smith, is:—­

SKIM-MILK

Nitrogenous matter......................................... 4.0
Sugar...................................................... 3.8
Fat........................................................ 1.8
Mineral matter............................................. 0.8
Water......................................................8

8.0

BUTTERMILK

Nitrogenous matter..........................................4.1
Sugar.......................................................

3.6
Fat.........................................................

0.7
Mineral matter..............................................0.8
Water......................................................8

8.0

Skim-milk and buttermilk, when the butter is made from sweet cream and taken fresh, are both excellent foods, although lacking the fat of new milk.

Cream is more easily digested than butter, and since it contains other elements besides fat, is likewise more nutritious.  In cream the fat is held in the form of an emulsion which allows it to mingle freely with water.  As previously stated, each atom of fat is surrounded with a film of casein.  The gastric juice has no more power to digest casein than it has free fat, and the little particles of fat thus protected are carried to the small intestines, where the pancreatic juice digests them, and on their way they do not interfere with the stomach digestion of other foods, as the presence of butter and other free fats may do.

It is because of its greater wholesomeness that in the directions for the preparation of foods given in this work we have given preference to the use of cream over that of butter and other free fats.  The usual objection to its use is its expense, and the difficulty of obtaining it from city dealers.  The law of supply and cost generally corresponds with that of demand, and doubtless cream would prove no exception if its use were more general.