42 The Virgin Mary’s Milk

The relicks of the Virgin Mary’s milk are well explained by Pietro della Valle. They shew a cave at Bethlehem where she is said to have hidden herself and the child from Herod. The soil is a soft white stone, which is of course excellent in all diseases, but has a special virtue to bring back the milk to a mother who may have lost it. For this reason the powder is called by the monks who administer it in water, the Virgin’s Milk. It would be brought to Europe as a treasure, and the origin of the name is quite as likely to have been mistaken by pious credulity, as to have been concealed by fraud.