Antoine-Augustin Parmentier and Nicolas Déyeux, Précis d’expériences et observations sur les différentes espèces de lait, considérées dans leur rapport avec la chimie, la médecine et l’économie rurale. Strasbourg: F.-G. Levrault, Théoph. Barrois, an 7 (1798/99). Octavo : half title, title, iii leaves, 420 pages, (2) leaves of index. Bound in sheepskin and boards, all edges red. The binding is nineteenth century. Some small signs of foxing but a solid and pleasant copy. This is a very rare treatise on the chemical properties and medicinal virtues of milk of all kinds. The book was not reprinted and does not appear in any bibliographies of food and cuisine (it is absent from Vicaire). The book centres on a comparison of the values and virtues of breast milk, as contrasted with milk from sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, and horses. It is divided into three parts: the chemical properties of milk (fermentation, coagulation and development of cream and butters); on the medical properties (and moral properties) of milk and of breast feeding; and on the production of milk, cheeses and creams. The medical treatment is of interest and covers colostrum (nicely analysed), and the use of wet-nurses rather than natural mothers. The book also covers the many uses of milk as medicine, the precautions to be taken before, during and after its administration. The medical treatment also covers milk in its various forms, including cheese, cream, and sour milk, as well as whey. The section on the character of animal milk in relation to climate and the food consumed by the animal is also interesting. Worth noting is that the author report on their own experiences and experiments. Déyeux (1745-1837) was the chief pharmacist Napoleon Bonaparte and also of the king after the Restoration. He worked with Parmentier on various projects and published numerous papers on food, wine and medicine. Parmentier (1737-1813) was a French pharmacist and agronomist, best remembered as a vocal promoter of the potato as a food source for humans in France and throughout Europe; he wrote widely and very sensibly on the medicinal properties of various foods.