Buyer protection
Donkey milk knowledge archive · Historical source
Haller (1775): donkey milk in the milk comparison of the “Elements of Physiology”
In the seventh volume of the German translation of his physiology textbook, Albrecht von Haller compared human and animal milk in 1775. Donkey milk appears there as watery, low in fat and particularly rich in milk sugar.
- Author
- Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777); translated by Johann Samuel Halle (1727–1810)
- Work
- Anfangsgründe der Phisiologie des menschlichen Körpers, vol. 7 “Die Gedärme. Die Nahrungsmilch. Der Urin. Der Saame. Die weiblichen Theile”, Berlin: Voß 1775
- Passage
- Book XXVIII, section I “Die Brüste” (the breasts), p. 903 (milk comparison), p. 909 (milk sugar) and p. 917 (donkey milk instead of cow’s milk)
- Time & place
- 1775 (German translation; Latin original 1757–1766) · Berlin
- Type of source
- Scientific textbook (physiology)
In the original words
What the original says
Die Eselsmilch enthält viel Wasser, und die wenigste Fettigkeit, und die wenigsten fetten Theile.
Donkey milk contains [according to the analyses compiled by Haller] much water, the least fat and the fewest fatty components.
Folglich kann man glauben, daß die Esels- und Pferdemilch besser auflöse und dünner sey, und daß die Menschen- und Schaafsmilch am meisten ernähre.
Consequently one may believe [according to Haller] that donkey and mare’s milk dissolve better and are thinner, and that human and sheep’s milk are the most nourishing.
Folglich erhielt man von der Eselsmilch den meisten Milchzukker, hierauf folgte der von der Pferdemilch, und den wenigsten gab die Schafmilch
Consequently [in Navier’s experiments] the most milk sugar was obtained from donkey milk, followed by mare’s milk, and sheep’s milk yielded the least.
English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.
A look at the original
What the passage looks like
Page 903 of volume 7 of Haller’s “Anfangsgründe der Phisiologie” (Berlin 1775), printed in Fraktur: the second paragraph contains the sentences on the water and fat of donkey milk.
The page comes from a freely accessible digitised copy. Click to open the passage at the library.
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel (M: Mc 45), Digitalisat im Deutschen Textarchiv; Vorlage gemeinfrei
Background
Who, when, what kind of text
Albrecht von Haller of Bern was one of the most influential naturalists of the 18th century. After his professorship at Göttingen (1736–1753) he wrote, in Bern, an eight-volume Latin textbook of physiology, the “Elementa physiologiae corporis humani” (1757–1766). It summarised the knowledge of his time about the human body and drew on his own experiments and an enormous knowledge of the literature.
Johann Samuel Halle, a teacher at the cadet school in Berlin, translated the work into German. The seventh volume appeared in 1775 from Voß in Berlin and deals, among other things, with the female breast and milk. There Haller compares kinds of milk by weight, cream, butter, cheese and whey, citing in numerous footnotes earlier investigations by Friedrich Hoffmann, Homberg, Spielmann and Navier.
Content
What the source reports about donkey milk
On p. 903 Haller sums up the analyses: sheep’s milk is the fattest and richest in cheese, whereas donkey milk contains much water and the least fat. From this he concludes that donkey and mare’s milk are thinner and “dissolve” better, while human and sheep’s milk nourish the most. According to Spielmann, donkey milk is also the heaviest milk, although Muschenbroek ranks the weights differently.
On the experiments with milk sugar, Haller reports after the French physician Pierre-Toussaint Navier: four ounces of donkey milk yielded 80 to 82 grains of milk sugar, human milk 58 to 67, cow’s milk 53 to 54. Donkey milk thus came first. On p. 904 Haller also notes that Hoffmann attributed somewhat more cheese to donkey milk and made human milk very watery, “by which donkey milk is said to have gained its fame”.
On p. 917 Haller writes that physicians substitute donkey milk for cow’s milk when the latter curdles too strongly in the stomach, because it is thinner; for the same reason, however, it more often loosens the bowels. In these passages he does not attribute any healing effect to it.
At a glance
Figures & facts from the source
Timeline
Where this source stands in the history of donkey milk
Each dot is a source from our knowledge archive – from Greek antiquity to the present day.
Critical assessment
How reliable is this source?
Source value
A standard work of 18th-century physiology, verifiable page by page with facsimile in the German Text Archive. Haller compiles other people’s measurements and notes contradictions between authors, for example on the weight of milk. The translation follows the Latin original, which is about a decade older.
Surprisingly close to modern findings
The basic statements – much water, little fat, much milk sugar – broadly match what modern analyses show about donkey milk. The individual 18th-century figures, however, cannot be compared with today’s measurements because of unclear methods and units.
Today’s assessment
Haller’s conclusions about “dissolving” and “nourishing” belong to the humoral theory of his time. For statements on the composition of donkey milk, modern analyses are authoritative today, not historical experiments.
Our assessment
Haller shows that in the 18th century donkey milk was not only recommended but also measured, weighed and taken apart. His comparison of kinds of milk is an early step towards milk chemistry as it is continued today in studies of composition.
References
Sources to check
- Primary sourceAlbrecht von Haller, Anfangsgründe der Phisiologie des menschlichen Körpers, translated from the Latin [by Johann Samuel Halle], vol. 7, Berlin: Voß 1775, p. 903 (German Text Archive, full text with facsimile)
https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/haller_anfangsgruende07_1775?p=939 - SupplementarySame volume, p. 909: Navier’s experiments on milk sugar from human, cow’s, goat’s, sheep’s, donkey and mare’s milk
https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/haller_anfangsgruende07_1775?p=945 - SupplementarySame volume, p. 917: physicians use donkey milk as a thinner milk in place of cow’s milk
https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/haller_anfangsgruende07_1775?p=953
More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.