Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0234.jpg

MILKWEED the cream, which is the fattest or richest part of the milk. When the cream is shaken, as in a churn, these globules break and the fat runs together, making lumps, which are called butter. The casein which surrounds the globules of fat, and is also dissolved in the liquid, if it becomes sour, either naturally by exposure to the air or by the addition of rennet or an acid of any kind, collects into masses called curd. This change is brought about partly by minute forms of animal life, called microbes, which get into the milk from the air. This is one reason why it is so necessary to purify by heat, usually hot water, all the articles used about milk. Sterilization and pasteurizing of milk are effective in removing or neutralizing the intrusion of bacteria. The clots or curds, made by the addition of rennet to the milk, are pressed into blocks and make cheese, which is a very rich food, containing all the fat of the milk, as do cream and butter, and the casein, also, which is an albuminous substance. Condensed milk is prepared by sweetening the milk and evaporating it, until it loses about half or three fourths of its bulk. It is poured into tins while hot, and sealed. When used, it is diluted with several times the quantity of water. The adulteration of milk by adding water, starch or chalk is frequent in large cities, and has called for boards of inspectors and produced instruments, known as lactometers, for detecting it. The most common fraud, however, in the sale of milk is removing the cream. Supplying a large city with cream and milk creates a great business and employs many men: those who milk the cows at all hours; the railroad employees who run the great milk-trains; the large dealers who distribute it to the wagons; and the drivers of the milk-carts whose noisy clatter disturbs the early-morning nap, but whose faithful labors in heat and cold furnish our milk and cream for breakfast. A quart of milk at eight cents is as nourishing as a pound of beefsteak at 18 cents; while a pound of American cheese, costing 20 cents, authorities affirm, contains almost as much nourishment as two pounds of the best beefsteak.  Milk′weed, species of Asclepias, a genus of the milkweed family, which contains about 85 species, mostly natives of the western hemisphere, nearly 50 occurring in North America. The name comes from the fact that they contain a milky juice which exudes from wounds. They also are often called silkweeds from the large pods containing numerous seeds bearing beautiful tufts of silky hair. These seeds with their downy sails are of much interest. One of the most attractive forms is the butterfly-weed or pleurisy-root (A. tuberosa), whose flowers are bright orange and in midsummer clothe the dry pastures of New England in masses of brilliant color. The stem is from one to two feet high, but contains little “milk.” The other forms are taller and have chiefly purplish to red flowers, occasionally white. The flowers are much modified for insect-pollination, the pollen-grains clinging together in masses which are carried off by the insects bodily. Probably the commonest known milkweed is A. cornuti, also known as A. syriaca. The weed has a stout, tall stem and opposite leaves, six to eight inches long. In early summer it puts forth flowers of purplish pink, blooming from June to August. The two pods are full to bursting of seeds with lovely, silky tufts.  Milky Way, a band of faint light which stretches across the sky from horizon to horizon. The light is produced by a multitude of stars so distant or so small that they can be distinguished only by the telescope. It is brighter in the southern than in the northern sky. In one part of its course it divides into two branches. Most of the stars in the Milky Way are of less than eighth magnitude. Among them are many star-clusters, but very few nebulae. In the constellation of Hercules is a most striking star-cluster, estimated to have between one and two thousand stars. The Milky Way was regarded in ancient times as the pathway of the gods, strewn with golden sands. The Indians speak of it as the Milkmaid’s Path. Very frequently it is called the Galaxy, Greek for Milky Way. Herschel, a profound student of this subject, suggested that the galaxy is a natural plane of reference for the stellar universe, just as the ecliptic is a natural plane of reference for the solar system.  Mill, John Stuart, son of James Mill, who also was known as a writer and utilitarian philosopher, was born at London, May 20, 1806. His early education was carried on by his father, beginning with the study of Greek when three years old and making him at 14 as advanced as most young men at the end of their period of study. His first writings appeared in a newspaper in 1822. Before he was 20 he was recognized as a leader in philosophy and politics, and was the most frequent contributor to the Westminster Review — a magazine which represented the ideas of his party. He somewhat changed his philosophical theories later, under the influence of Maurice, Sterling and Coleridge. His most important works are his System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy, Comte and Positivism, Representative Government, Dissertations and Discussions, England and Ireland and Liberty. He died at Avignon, France, May 8, 1873. See his Autobiography, which appeared in the year of his death; and Life by Bain; and Life and Works by Herbert Spencer, by Thornton, by Fox Bourne and by others.  Millais, Sir John Everett, an English painter, was born at Southampton, June 8, 1829. His Pizarro Seizing the Inca was shown at the Royal Academy when only 17 and was considered equal to the best 