90 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL 



natural variations. In the city of New York it is made illegal to 

 offer for sale or even to bring into the city skimmed milk, on the 

 ground that if it once comes into the city it is entirely impossible 

 to exercise such a control as to prevent its sale as whole milk. 



Skimmed milk itself is a legitimate article of trade, and a 

 healthful article of food for adults. It is unsuitable for the exclu- 

 sive food of infants, and its sale with the express or tacit under- 

 standing that it is whole milk, is both fraudulent and dangerous 

 to the public health. It has been shown in Berlin and other 

 cities, that infant mortality decreases as the milk control on the 

 part of the authorities becomes more efficient. 



In view of the fact that by a law* passed at the last session 

 of the Legislature, the Station may be called upon to decide 

 as to the purity of suspected samples of milk, it was deemed 

 advisable to gather some statistics with regard to the composition 

 of milk found in our market, and in connection with the present 

 discussion these detailed results will be of interest. (See p. 91.) 

 Of these samples 29 were bought of grocers and bakers, 4 direct 

 from milk carts, and 5 represent what was delivered to private 

 families by milk peddlers. 



Nos. 5, 8, 15, 19, 24, 29, have undoubtedly been watered, as is 

 indicated by their specific gravity, taien in connection with the 

 high content of water and low content of fat. The lactometer 

 so far as tried, indicated the same thing except in No. 29. 



Nos. 6 and 32 are of doubtful purity, though 32 is cleared by 

 the lactometer test. Nos. 18, 31 and 33 have a high specific 

 gravity, while the solids and fat are quite low, which strongly 

 indicates a mixture of skimmed milk with whole milk.f No. 37 

 has pi-obably been both skimmed (imperfectly) and watered. If 

 it had been skimmed only, the specific gravity would have been 

 much higher; if watered only the fat would have been higher 

 and the sj^ecific gravity lower. No. 3 is wholly anomalous on 

 account of its high percentage of fat, accompanied with low per- 

 centages of solids and casein and its low specific gravity. 



All the samples taken from milk carts and from what was 

 delivered to private families were of fair qiaality. 13 out of 29 

 samples obtained from groceries were of poor quality, and in 7 

 cases the milk had certainly been watered or skimmed or both. 



* See p. 92. 



\ These samples may have been uninteutionally skimmed by the removal of the 

 top milk from the can before they were taken. 



