comparatively easy. The condensed milk is easily converted to the condition of ordinary milk by the addition of either cold or hot water. The addition of the sugar is found to be necessary, in order to enable the other constituents to resist decomposition. Milk will keep any length of time when entirely desiccated, but, by the process of drying entirely, the milk loses its flavor and many of its properties. The semi-liquid condition of condensed milk prevents these changes, but in this state it is liable to decompose; hence the necessity of additional sugar.
The question arises as to whether this added sugar in any way interferes with the quality of the milk in its relation to the diet of infants or invalids. In comparing human milk with cow's milk, we find that the latter contains more caseine and less sugar than the former. Hence, when given to children, it is customary to add a little water and a little sugar to make it like mother's milk. This object is really effected by the addition of cane-sugar to the condensed milk, and it may, therefore, be unhesitatingly employed in the nursery as a substitute for ordinary cow's milk.
After a personal inspection of the Aylesbury manufactory, and a full consideration of the whole subject, we are quite prepared to say that, where good fresh cow's milk is unattainable, as it is almost practically so in our large towns, there is no substitute for it equal to condensed milk. Nor is this a matter of theory; hundreds of gallons are being used every day in London, and most of it under the direction of experienced medical men. One medical man assures us that he has a healthy, fine-grown child of ten months that has never taken any thing but condensed milk. As the diet of invalids, it may in some cases require watching when the action of sugar is injurious to the system; but in these cases milk should be altogether interdicted.
It is to be hoped that no disadvantage in the use of this agent has been overlooked, as the advantages of its use are so many and so obvious. It presents a pure form of milk in a condition in which it may be kept for any length of time, and is not injured by removal. It is always at hand night and day, and, by the addition of cold or hot water, can be converted into nutritious and wholesome food.—Nature.
| LOWLY VEGETABLE FORMS. |
By Rev. HUGH MACMILLAN.
LIFE is everywhere. "Nature lives" says Lewes; "every pore is bursting with life; every death is only a new birth; every grave a cradle." "The earth-dust of the universe," says Jean Paul, "is inspired by the breath of the great God. The world is brimming with life; every leaf on every tree is a land of spirits." The tendency
