Chemical
observations and ethical considerations
The third chapter of Lait bleu,
the book of 1805 about the problem of blue milk, is called Observations
chimiques qui peuvent avoir quelques rapports au phénomène du lait bleu, or, “Chemical observations that may be related to
the phenomeon of blue milk”. It is not the chemistry that we are used to since
our highschool years, however, because in 1805 chemical ideas were still under
the influence of alchemy and early pharmaceutical concepts whereas the
investigations of Lavoisier and Priestly did not yet have an impact on ideas
about the composition and properties of milk.
The chapter has
three parts and all three are quotations from the work of two French chemists, Antoine François
Comte de Fourcroy (1755-1809), who had been working with Lavoisier and
supported his ideas, and J.A.C.Comte
Chaptal de Canteloup (1765-1832), who was also an important person in the
French government. The first part quotes de Fourcroy and deals with the
relation of temperature on the fluidity of cream and the coagulation of milk
under the influence of electricity (thunderstorms). The second part, also by de
Fourcroy, is a report of observations made by putting fresh milk in the open
air for 30 days; understandably for us is the development of moulds on the
surface, and when a blue colour develops, it may be related to the blue colour
of Roquefort cheese. The third part is a quotation from the work of Chaptal,
and is a speculation of the nature of the blue colour that may also explain why
milk becomes blue. Chaptal has the opinion that oxygen gas may condensate in
different degrees, each degree giving its own degree of deflection of light;
since blue rays are the weakest rays, they will be deflected first when oxygen
binds to the material of cadavres and milk.
The
importance of this chapter is not its contents, but the fact that Chabert and
Fromage suspected that the phenomenon of blue milk could be explained by the
influence of factors from the outside: something happens to milk when it is
kept under certain circumstances in which electricity, oxygen and moulds may
have a role.
The forth
chapter returns to the cows as the source of the blue milk, because, as
explained in the earlier chapters, it is also the constitution of the cow that
contributes to the problem. The underlying cause is that cows that have been
fed a poor diet in winter are going to the fields in spring and have access to excessive
and rich fodder, which may cause the milk becoming blue. So chapter 4, dealing
with prophylaxis and cure, concentrates on dietary regimens and therapies that
are in essence an advice to prevent the access of the cows to an excessive
amount of food, or in the case of a cure of blue milk, to reduce the food,
drench the animals with salts and apply blood letting. But the most interesting
part of this chapter is an ethical consideration which is worth while citing.
Chabert and Fromage fully understand that farmers want their cows to eat much
as soon as possible, because that helps the milk production, but, they state:
“ … we
should realize how the demands we make of high and lasting milk production
weakens the lungs; by the state of domestication of the animals, we knowingly
condemn them to inanation for our needs and it is not reasonable to requiere
that the Doctor to furnishes remedies for a disease that is absolutely
voluntary. So, either the cows are exhausted and waste away of lassitude to
give us milk, or the butcher kills them to feed us with their meat, men should
not pretend that he does not know, neither in the first case nor in the second,
that his taste condemns the animals to be his victims. Only his interest and
his sensibility should stimulate him to let them suffer as little as possible
until the moment of their sacrifice.”1
[1]
P.Chabert en C.M.F.Fromage, ‘D’une altération du lait de vache, désignée sous
le nom de lait bleu’, Paris, A.-J.Marchant, 1805, p. 32-33
