Among the Jews, milk was always considered as an emblem of the wealth of a country and the fertility of its soil; so much so, that the sacred books almost invariably speak of a happy region, as one “flowing with milk and honey.”[XVIII-2] This metaphorical expression testifies sufficiently to the taste of the Hebrews for this aliment, which their King Solomon recommended to them in these terms: “and thou shalt have goat’s milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens.”[XVIII-3] Profane antiquity agrees on this point with our holy chroniclers. It represents to us the first men, free from passions and fears, surrounded by streams of milk and nectar, from which they drew health and life.[XVIII-4] Happy time! ere milk-maids existed to practise those deceptions they have now imbibed from the deceitful arts of chemistry. The greater part of the wandering tribes, such as the Getes and Scythians, were galactophagists,[XVIII-5] or drinkers of milk;[XVIII-6] the Gauls[XVIII-7] and Germans[XVIII-8] made it also their principal food. In Greece and Italy, the shepherds decorated the vessels in which they had just milked their flocks with crowns of flowers; and, in honour of the rural divinities, they scattered about a small quantity of this sweet liquid.[XVIII-9] The reapers offered it to Ceres;[XVIII-10] and in one of the sections of Rome, Mercury was presented with milk instead of wine. The ancients attributed to milk from cows, ewes, and goats, various Hygeian qualities.[XVIII-11] Hippocrates forbade it in cases of head-ache, fevers, and bilious attacks;[XVIII-12] but he sometimes ordered asses’ milk,[XVIII-13] which was considered as an excellent remedy, and a most wholesome aliment.[XVIII-14] The voluptuous people of Rome rubbed their faces and skins with bread soaked in asses’ milk, to make them fairer and prevent the beard from growing too fast. Suetonius[XVIII-15] and Martial[XVIII-16] speak of these refinements of luxurious delicacies. The satirical Juvenal informs us that bread was made into a kind of plaster or mask, with which they covered the face.[XVIII-17] Poppæia, wife of Nero, was the first, or one of the first, to bring this recipe into fashion, being fully persuaded that she would thus preserve the whiteness and delicacy of her skin. Five hundred asses used to supply daily the necessary quantity of milk to make the cosmetic and bath[XVIII-18] of the coquettish empress. This high patronage did not prevent asses’ milk from losing by degrees--and very unjustly, no doubt--the reputation it acquired.[XVIII-19] Fashion--capricious and all-powerful deity--undertook to re-instate its virtues, after several centuries of profound forgetfulness. The success was complete. This is how the affair took place:--