THE VIRTUE OF CURDLED MILK.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2040, 21 August 1906, Page 7

THE VIRTUE OF CURDLED MILK.

"Nature cures" are the order of the day. Sunbatlis, air batlis, exercise, and rest in carefully graded proportions form the chief articles in the creed of the up-to-date doctor who has an enlightened clientele to deal with—these and a lefomi diet. And the latter is not the least important item. The doctor who is the greatest practitioner doc; not give medicine, and "the best Temedy often consist 6 in prescribing none at ail.*' So eays a ■great French authority. Both in France and in Germany "naturist" cure establishments are on the increase, and one of the chief prescriptions for dyspeptic and nervous troubles is euTdled milk. In adopting this dietary modern science is only borrowing from empiricism, for there is a very general and widespread belief in the nourishing and digestive properties of whey, just as there ia in the use of buttermilk for the prevention and cure of rheumatic disorders by dissolving and carrying off the irritating earth-salts in the blood, which have a tendency to gather about the joints. From the time of Francis the First tlie use of curdled milk has been an article of faith with the French countryman, thus illustrating once again the paradox that the oldest is yet the newest in cuTes as in everything else! There are two ways of preparing curdled milk. It may be set by artificial means, ot it may be placed in a warm place in a covered vessel and allowed to "turn" naturally. Thi6 may happen in one day in summer, but it may take two or three in winter. The natural method is infinitely to be preferred to the artificial, as the use of rennet or citric acid tends to deprive the milk of its lactic salts, which are a most important part of its composition. It is claimed for curdled milk that it can be retained by the stomach which cannot tolerate ordinary milk, that it is non-constipat-ing, that it is veTy nourishing, an excellent diuretic, and a first-rate nerve food, as each quart contains two grammes of phosphates. A bowlful in the morning and one at night is recommended for those who wish to begin the treatment. Sometimes a little sugar is added to the ''turned" milk, but as a rule the gently acid flavour is found most agreeable, and patients who have been kept on a purely milk diet welcome the change to curdled milk. It hardly disagrees at all, and seems a valuable commodity, combining nourishing food with useful medicinal properties. What these properties really are the veTy latest scientific research lias just determined. It seems that lactic acid is the foe of bacteria, that the laTge intestine in man 6warms with harmful microbes, who set up disease and bring on senile decay by the amount of poisons they set free to be ab-

BOibed by the system, and that the use of i curdled milk \e, proved to have a distinct effect on such harmful bacteria, fortifying the system against them, and limiting their development. An old French doctoT used to say "People would never die if thev would only drink curdled milk every day?' This fond and partial assertion has received remarkable scientific corroboration from the researches by Dr Metchnikoff, head of the PasteuT Institute, on the causation of old age. He found that there was no large intestine in birds which live longest, and this made him examine that organ in man to see if he could connect it with the phenomenon of old age. He found it, as has been said, a perfect breeding ground for microbes—harmful bacteria which pour poison into the blood. Lactic ferments, on the contrary, were found to exert a powerful antagonistic influence on the microbes of the digestive tube. In a little book in the Simple Life Series on "Curdled Milk" as a natural key to health and long life, Dr Montenuk, the WTiter, who is the head of a naturist cure establishment at VaT, says that curdled milk is "at the present time the first of the remedies of old age from both the scientific and empiric point of view." It seems that the Bulgarians, who aje, of all the European peoples, the longest lived, dTink abundantly of curdled milk, and that, combined with fresh air and healthy conditions generally, is supposed to bo the potent factor in the case. A powerful plea is advanced in the pamphlet for a return to nature. Modern life, with its over-excitation of the nerves, goes on from _ stimulation to stimulation until it ends in the bankruptcy court, at last. In place of giving a jaded OTgan a rest, it is goaded and spurred into fresh effort, with no thought of the suicidal natuTe of such a policy. Tea, coffee, alcohol, meat diet, a so-called "strengthening" regime, is resorted to in order to get the most work out of the organism. But the resulting energy i 6 false. It is drawing on capital, and the last state of the patient is worse than the first. The reform Tegime which is here recommended is not at all extreme. It aims at being fruitarian in the morning, "mixed" at middiay and vegetarian in the evening—this being the combination which, according to the writeT, gives the best results. To haTk back to curdled milk : Dr Montenui6 states that he is able to benefit from milk in a curdled state, whereas he had not been able to assimilate fresh milk ; and Dr Metchnikoff is himself a convert to the cirrdled milk craze, finding that it keeps him in a remarkably good stat© of health. He ha 6 made many converts, too, it seems, among his colleagues. This, I cannot help thinking, a very significant testimony indeed. I have stated that curdled milk is

an important article of dietary at the nature cure establishments on the Rhine and in the RivieTa. So commonly is it in use in the Black Forest that it' can be got at any inn, and of course it is well known in the East, where various preparations of curdled milk have foT ages been part of the dietary of the people.

I wonder if the dietetic and diuretic pro* perties of "timed" milk are at all known in this country? "I'm just afraid that ■when a plate of milk "turns" or "lappere," either from the effects of a thunder 6torm or from sitting too long, it is promptly flung to the pigs, who show their good sense by as promptly gobbling it up. 1 remember, however, during one delightful holiday I spent with friends on a farm near Rosemount, Blairgowrie, many years ago thaflappered" milk and thick cream were used to flavor sweet milk in a way I have never seen done before or since. We had the run of the dairy, and there was occasionally a plate of thick milk. Of course the old-fashioned folk would have sprinkled a handful of oatmeal on the top of this and set it before the men and maids to suppeT, and it would have been thankfully devoured. But people aie growing too nice nowadays for such simple faTe, and where ignorance Teigns in the parior as to the virtues of nature' 6 simples, is it any wonder that it extends to the kitchen? Well, on the holiday I speak of we carefully skimmed the "lappeTed" cream off, and mixed it with fresh milk for the porridge, the resulting beveTage being deliriously tart, and, I have no doubt, very digestible. Sometimes a spoonful or two of the thick milk was added the bolder spirits with tonic effect. This was close on 20 years ago, long before the "Simple Life" had ever been heaid of. By the way, one mode of curdling milk is to put a spoonful or two or buttermilk or the thick milk of the previous day into the fresh milk when setting it aside to set. Curdled i milk can be made from skim milk, too. ) It k less fattening, of course, than from | new milk, but has all the other qualities of i' the article.