Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

335/430 (page 309)

$Cheese danger if there is present the slightest injnry of the skin or of the mucous ineml)ranes of the genital organs. A small abrasion, a blister, or an intlam- mati(')n, be it e\ei so small, of the glans of the j)enis, may ser\'e as the portal ot entrance for the poison. The only safe method to avoid this, as well as other venereal diseases, is to abstain from all illegal intercourse. CHEESE. An exceedingly iiiTpoitant toodstutf, which combines cheaj)- ness with great nutritive value. Its bad reputation of being indigestible is largely due to the foolish habit of swallowing it without chewing it and breaking it into small pieces. Cheese may be called pure milk-extract. This is absolutely true of cream-cheese, which is obtained from unskimmed milk and which, therefore, contains the fat of the latter ; it is true to a lesser degree of skim-milk cheese, in the manufacture of which, partly or completelv. skimmed milk is used. iMilk contains an average of 89 per cent, of water ; and after the loss of this water and of some salts, cheese represents the actual nutritive constituents of milk. It must, therefore, be placed in the front rank of foodstuffs for the healthy as well as for the sick ; especially as cheese, if ])roperly masticated, or grated in Italian style, and stirred into soups, does not make any increased demands u]X)n the digestive organs. Soups which contain flour, and those ])repared from grain products (groats, rice, farina, etc.) can be easily improved in taste as well as in nutritive value by the addition of grated cheese. Such food is especiallv to be recom- mended for children and weak individuals. The epicure, it is true, demands different qualities of cheese ; he insists that it should be ripened by special bacteria, whereby digestion is relieved of part of its labour ; and he prefers cheese which has been rendered more palatable by moulds; for instance, Roquefort, Stilton, and Gorgonzola, which are profusely streaked with the green swards of moulds, such as are found also on old bread. In addition to the green moulds there occur also red ones (likewise harmless) on the surface of certain kinds of cheese ; whereas the varieties of bacteria that ripen the cheese are much more numerous. As these are of importance to the taste, a more exact knowledge of them will some day contribute greatly to improve the manufacture of cheese. In some varieties of cheese (as Swiss cheese) the bacteria manifest their pres- ence by the formation of holes, due to the decomposition of milk-sugar with the development of gas. Hard cheese owes this quality in part to the abundance of phosphorated lime which it contains, and which is almost entirely absent in soft cheese. Wdiite cheese, or whey-cheese, differs from all others in that it is made from sour milk, whereas other kinds of cheese are made from milk which has been curdled by the addition of rennet. The following varieties of cheese may be mentioned : Skim-milk : Parmesan and Li])tau ; medium cream : Edam, Emmenthal (Swiss), and Cheshire; cream: Limburger, Rociuefort, and Brie. The average composition of cheese is 25 to 30 per cent, of proteids.$