PREPARATIONS OF MILK.

MILK DIET.—­An almost exclusive milk diet is sometimes a great advantage in cases of sickness.  It is usually necessary to begin the use of the milk in moderate quantities, gradually withdrawing the more solid food and increasing the quantity of milk.  In the course of a week, all other food should be withdrawn, and the quantity of milk increased to three or four quarts a day.  Milk is easily digested, and hence may be taken at more frequent intervals than other food.

RECIPES.

ALBUMINIZED MILK.—­Shake together in a well-corked bottle or glass fruit can, a pint of fresh milk and the well-beaten whites of two eggs, until thoroughly mixed.  Serve at once.

HOT MILK.—­Hot milk is an excellent food for many classes of invalids.  The milk should be fresh, and should be heated in a double boiler until the top is wrinkled over the entire surface.

JUNKET, OR MILK CURD.—­Heat a cup of fresh milk to 85 deg., add one teaspoonful of the essence of pepsin, and stir just enough to mix thoroughly.  Let it stand until firmly curded, and serve.

KOUMISS.—­Dissolve one fourth of a two-cent cake of compressed yeast, and two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, in three tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water.  Pour this into a quart bottle and add sufficient fresh, sweet milk to nearly fill.  Shake well, and place in a room of the temperature of 70 deg. to 80 deg.  F., and allow it to ferment about six hours.  Cork tightly and tie the cork in.  Put in a cool place, act above 60 deg. and let it remain a week, when it will be ready for use.  In making koumiss be sure that the milk is pure, the bottle sound, and the yeast fresh.  Open the bottle with a champagne tap.  If there is any curd or thickening resembling cheese, the fermentation has been prolonged beyond the proper point, and the koumiss should not be used.

MILK AND LIME WATER.—­In cases where milk forms large curds, or sours in the stomach, lime water prepared in the following manner may be added to the milk before using:—­

Into a gallon jar of water, put a piece of lime the size of one’s fist.  Cover the jar and let the lime settle over night.  In the morning, draw the water off the top with a syphon, being careful not to move the jar so as to mix again the particles of lime with the water.

Two tablespoonfuls of the lime water is usually sufficient for a pint of milk.

PEPTONIZED MILK FOR INFANTS.—­One gill of cows’ milk, fresh and unskimmed; one gill of pure water; two tablespoonfuls of rich, sweet cream; two hundred grains of milk sugar, one and one fourth grains of extractum pancreatis; four grains of sodium bicarbonate.  Put the above in a clean nursing bottle, and place the bottle in water so warm that the whole hand cannot be held in it longer for one minute without pain.  Keep the milk at this temperature for exactly twenty minutes.  Prepare fresh just before using.