As to the Quality and Quantity of the Milk, it is to be observed, that
as soon as it is milked it should be warmed, but not so as to boil it.
Let the Vessel full of Milk be put into boiling Water, and when it is
so hot as to be conveniently supped, or at least so warm as when it
came from the Cow, let it be taken after the Manner of Tea or Coffee.
The Times of taking ought to be, two Pints in the Morning, some four
or Five Hours before Dinner, as much about Noon, and as much about
Seven in the Evening; but the Quantity cannot be exactly determined,
because the Weakness or Strength of the Stomach must give a Rule in
this Case; or let so much be taken as the Stomach can bear without
Inconvenience, and the Patient may increase the Quantity daily till he
comes to about forty Ounces. If the Stomach be weak, he may take it in
a smaller Quantity, four or five Times a Day; if four Times, let two
of them serve for Dinner and Supper, with some of the finest wheaten
Bread; and a Draught of Milk may be repeated every four Hours; if the
Milk be taken at five Times, it may be so ordered as to let three Hours
intervene; those who are of more robust Constitutions, may be content
with three Meals of Milk a Day; and it will not be amiss to take every
Morning a Dose of Crabs-Eyes, or some other absorbent Powder: I usually
take about twelve or fourteen Ounces of Milk in the Morning, Twenty
four Ounces with Wheat Bread at Noon, and about Twenty Ounces at Night,
half with Bread, and the other half drank as common Drink. Some allow
the Use of white Meats at Dinner, lessening the Quantities by Degrees,
and making up the Deficiencies by Food of Milk and Eggs, so that by
Degrees the Milk and Eggs are entirely substituted in the Place of
the Flesh Meat, and then by diminishing the Eggs daily, Milk becomes
entirely substituted for other Food: This Method seems to me, entirely
agreeable to tender Constitutions, and such as dont well bear sudden
Changes. Some who have strictly adhered to Milk for fourteen Weeks,
have indulged in the Use of poached Eggs without Salt, Barley boiled
in Milk, fresh Butter without Salt, Custard and other Milk Foods; and
in Summer, some Kinds of Fruits, as Strawberries, Peaches, _&c._ tho’
in my Judgment improperly, especially such Fruits as are cold, or seem
to have a latent Acid, or such as weaken the Bowels. On this Head it
may be observed in general, that the less whatever be used for Food
differs in its Nature from Milk, it may be more freely ventured upon
in the Milk-Diet; but the Prudence and Care of the Physician is to be
relied on, according to the Diversity of Circumstances that may happen
in different Constitutions.