History of All Cloven-Hoofed Quadrupeds

The nature of the milk of ruminants. 4.

...unless we prevent it, it endures. Furthermore, Aristotle writes that the milk of such animals as are not dentate on both sides only curdles, and for that reason cheese is made from it; and he says that this milk is both more abundant and more useful for cheese. But since, on the testimony of Herodotus, cheese is made among the Scythians from the curdled milk of mares—which we said was called hippace in the history of the horse—Mercuriale conjectures that Aristotle is speaking of that coagulation which occurs in the stomach, and not of the artificial kind. In this matter I would easily agree with him, since it is characteristic of ruminants to possess rennet. Rennet. 3. de part. 1 "" "" "" "" "" All those (he says) that contain several stomachs have what is called rennet; those that have one stomach lack it, with the exception of the hare. Those to whom this is granted have it not in the large stomach, nor in the reticulum, nor in the last, which we have called the abomasum, but in that which is placed between the last and the first two, which is called the omasum. All these have rennet on account of the thickening of the milk; those with single stomachs lack it because their milk is thin, for which reason the milk of horned animals is thickened, but that of the hornless not at all. In the hare, rennet is formed διὰ τὸ νέμεσθαι ὁπώδη ποίαν. ὁ γὰρ τοιοῦτος χυμὸς συνίστησι ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τὸ γάλα τοῖς ἐμβρύοις, that is, as Theodorus translates, because it feeds upon a herb of milky juice; for such a humor binds the milk in the stomach and makes colostrum.

Li. 5. Var. 12 ""

But Mercuriale says that he committed two clear errors: one, that he did not correctly interpret these words ὁπώδη ποίαν as a herb of milky juice. For as we have indicated elsewhere, ὀπὸς, among Hippocrates as well as others, is taken κατ' ἐξοχὴν [par excellence] for rennet, in which sense it is more likely to be taken by Aristotle—namely, he who says that the hare has rennet because it feeds upon a herb that produces rennet. But perhaps Gaza wished to imitate Pliny in this matter also, who was often accustomed to interpret that word from the Greek in such a way. The other error, and perhaps a much greater one, is when he adds those words: and makes colostrum, which are neither read in Aristotle, nor are they true. Indeed, colostrum (or colostra), as Nonius Marcellus teaches, is the new milk in the breasts. Lucilius says:
What colostrum is. Li. 8. Sat. 10. In the Virgin. In the Poenulus. 28. lib. cap. 9 lib. 11. c. 41

And Laberius: Indeed, relying on my colostrum, he would have made the lands eager to take water from the spring. Likewise Plautus: My heart, my colostrum, my soft little cheese; Pliny: It is disastrous for nurses to conceive. For these are the infants who are called colostrated, when the milk is thickened into the appearance of cheese. Now, colostra is the first sponginess of the milk after birth. Also elsewhere: For their young, where there is rich fodder, it is lethal to have tasted the mother's milk within two days of birth; this kind of malady is called colostration. From all of which it is very clear that children are called "colostrated" who use either the milk of a mother who has just given birth, or that of a pregnant nurse; and for that reason it is called colostrum or colostra, being either new milk or the milk of a woman carrying a womb. Thus far Mercuriale: with whom I gladly agree regarding colostrum, but in my judgment Gaza did not translate ὁπώδη ποίαν badly as a "herb of milky juice," in which signification Theophrastus uses the same word, though never for a thing that produces rennet—even though the sense may redound to the same thing. For those herbs of milky juice, such as lettuce, Apuleius's Why ruminants have rennet. hare-lettuce—whether it be Sow-thistle or Chondrilla or Hawkweed—since they are cooling and astringent, will be able to coagulate the milk of the hare. But to return to the horned and truly ruminating animals, the same Mercuriale says they have rennet either because they are endowed with a dry temperament, by merit of which the milk is thickened in the stomach, or on account of the dryness and power of the coagulating herbs upon which the mothers feed while they are suckling. Aristotle also says that rennet exists only in the omasum of multi-stomached or ruminating animals, and that he gave the reason for this in the Problems. Wherefore, since it is not found in those which we now have, it must be thought (says Mercuriale) that Aristotle declared it in the Physical Problems, which are cited by Plutarch, Apollonius, Athenaeus, and Laertius, but are now missing. Why rennet is only in the omasum. If I may bring forth anything, I (he says) would say that in the first stomach the milk is little changed; in the second it is indeed changed and warmed, but not so much that it can be thickened into the form of cheese; in the fourth it is thoroughly cooked and immediately distributed into the intestines, and thence through the mesaraic veins into the body; but in the third alone can it be thickened and retained there—both because the place is sufficiently warm and the milk is already prepared so that it can easily be thickened, and because, once thus warmed, it is not easily transmitted through the opening common to the abomasum and omasum into the abdomen. Therefore rennet is found in the omasum because there the efficient cause, namely heat, is better able to thicken it, and because it can be retained at the same time; in the others, either the heat does not flourish equally, or because of slipperiness, if it should form, it cannot be retained as it is in the abomasum. Whence I could never agree with Averroes, who contended that rennet is an excrement of the digestion of the third stomach, and that it was made for that purpose, like a bladder 3. de part. animal. c. ult. Why ruminants abound in milk. for bile. Thus far Mercuriale. As to why ruminants now abound in milk, perhaps this reason can be given: that their offspring require it more than others because of the lack of teeth in the upper jaw. Now, from all that has been said by us thus far, I think it is known to everyone that there are two kinds of ruminants: one that is dentate on both sides, and another in the lower jaw only. That this latter genus is properly understood by the name of ruminants is beyond controversy. And they are all cloven-hoofed, and with one exception, as I said, the camel, they are horned. As for an animal that is both solid-hoofed and two-horned, there is none that we have yet known. But there is a solid-hoofed animal that is one-horned, although rare, as the ass... 2. Hist. 1.