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Donkey milk knowledge archive · Historical source
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1886): donkey milk in a German household encyclopaedia
In 1886 the 4th edition of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon described donkey milk as closest to women’s milk, easily curdled and rich in milk sugar. The article “Milch” of 1888 adds a table giving donkey milk 91.02 per cent water.
- Author
- Editorial staff of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig (unsigned articles)
- Work
- Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition (1885–1892), vol. 5 “Distanzgeschäft – Faidherbe” and vol. 11 “Luzula – Nathanael”
- Passage
- Article “Esel” (ass), vol. 5, pp. 845–846 (donkey milk on p. 846); article “Milch” (milk), vol. 11, p. 608 (table)
- Time & place
- 1886 (vol. 5) and 1888 (vol. 11) · Germany (Leipzig)
- Type of source
- General encyclopaedia
In the original words
What the original says
Die Eselsmilch steht in ihren Eigenschaften der Milch von Frauen am nächsten, ist leichter gerinnbar und gibt nur nach langem Schütteln eine weiche, weiße, geschmacklose, leicht ranzig werdende Butter.
In its properties, donkey milk comes closest to women’s milk; it curdles more easily and only after long shaking yields a soft, white, tasteless butter that readily turns rancid.
Die Molken derselben enthalten viel Milchzucker und schmecken angenehm süß. Sie wird als leichtverdaulich und nährend oft in Krankheiten verordnet, wo große Störung und Erschlaffung der Verdauungsfunktionen vorwalten.
Its whey contains much milk sugar and tastes pleasantly sweet. It is [according to the encyclopaedia] often prescribed as easily digestible and nourishing in illnesses in which severe disturbance and weakness of the digestive functions predominate.
Die M. der Einhufer ist durch hohen Milchzuckergehalt sehr süß und geht leicht in weinige Gärung über. Eselsmilch ist der Frauenmilch am ähnlichsten.
The milk of solipeds is very sweet because of its high milk sugar content and readily passes into a wine-like fermentation. Donkey milk is the most similar to women’s milk.
English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.
Background
Who, when, what kind of text
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon was published by the Bibliographisches Institut in Leipzig and, alongside the Brockhaus, was one of the most widely used German reference works of the Imperial era. The 4th edition appeared from 1885 to 1892 in 16 main volumes plus supplements, about 16,600 pages. Volume 5, with the entry “Esel”, is dated 1886; volume 11, with the article “Milch”, 1888.
Such encyclopaedias addressed an educated middle-class readership. They summarised the knowledge of their time concisely and often carried forward older works; the articles are unsigned. For the history of donkey milk they therefore show what counted as common knowledge around 1886, not new research. The linked Retro-Bibliothek offers a corrected transcription with a page scan.
Content
What the source reports about donkey milk
The long article “Esel” first deals with wild and domestic asses, their distribution, keeping and reproduction: the jenny foals after 290 days, and the foal can be weaned after five to six months. The uses come at the end: meat, tough leather for drums, parchment and the milk.
On donkey milk the encyclopaedia names three features: it is closest to women’s milk, curdles more easily and only after long shaking yields a soft, white butter that readily turns rancid. Its whey is rich in milk sugar and pleasantly sweet. According to the practice of the time, it was prescribed as easily digestible and nourishing in illnesses involving weak digestion.
The article “Milch” in volume 11 places donkey milk in a table beside cow’s, women’s, goat’s, sheep’s and mare’s milk: 2.01 casein, 1.26 butter (fat), 5.70 sugar and 91.02 water; no value is given for salts. The milk of solipeds, it says, is very sweet because of its high milk sugar content and readily passes into a wine-like fermentation.
At a glance
Figures & facts from the source
Critical assessment
How reliable is this source?
Source value
A widely used reference work that can be checked page by page as scan and transcription. It reliably shows what the German middle class around 1886 regarded as established about donkey milk; it contains no original research.
Origin of the figures
The table names neither a source nor a unit; the sum of the values shows that they are percentages. Analyses of the time were usually based on few samples, so the values should be read only as contemporary reference figures.
Today’s assessment
The remark on prescription for weak digestion reflects 19th-century medical practice and does not substantiate any health effect. Donkey milk is a food. The comparison with women’s milk describes composition only: donkey milk is not a substitute for breast milk or infant formula; infant feeding belongs in medical hands.
Our assessment
About a hundred years after Krünitz, Meyers encyclopaedia shows how the remedy of the Enlightenment turns into a chemically described substance: milk sugar, curdling and water content move to the fore. What we find particularly interesting is the early comparison table, whose water and sugar values come surprisingly close to modern measurements.
References
Sources to check
- Primary sourceMeyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition, vol. 5, p. 846 (end of the article “Esel”), full text with page scan at Retro-Bibliothek
https://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=105259 - SupplementarySame encyclopaedia, vol. 11, p. 608 (article “Milch”) with a comparison table of milk types
https://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=111313 - SupplementaryWikisource overview of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon with publication years of the volumes of the 4th edition and further digital copies
https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Meyers_Konversations-Lexikon
More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.