The Adulteration of Milk 



387 



vised of ascertaining whether water has been 

 added to the milk, except by the results pro- 

 duced in the character of the milk. Thus, a 

 little water might be added to very rich milk, 

 and yet it might afterwards give 10 per 

 cent, of cream, and have a specific gravity 

 after skimming of above 10.30, But 

 it is quite sufficient to show that a milk con- 

 tains a proper quantity of nutrient material, 

 and this is indicated by a yield of 10 per 

 cent, of cream and a specific gravity of 10.31. 

 Apart from the character of the cattle, in 

 some cases, however, an unadulterated milk 

 may give less than 10 per cent, of cream. It 

 is customary in many farms round Man- 

 chester to save the stoppings for butter, and 

 send the rest to be sold as new milk. Now 

 strippings contain more cream than the other 

 milk, in some cases yielding from 15 to 24 

 per cent., and hence milk from which the 



strippings have been withheld may not give 

 above 5 per cent, of cream, even though pure 

 and unadulterated. In whatever way, how- 

 ever, the milk is deteriorated, whether by 

 adulteration with water, by the addition of 

 skim milk, or by a careless method of distri- 

 bution, the result is the same as far as the 

 consumer is concerned. The lactometer and 

 cream measures, used in the way suggested, 

 will sufficiently indicate the character of the 

 milk for ordinary purposes ; it will enable 

 any one to ascertain readily whether or not 

 he is receiving good and pure milk. In the 

 experiments made by the committee of the 

 Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association 

 the results of analyses have always pointed 

 to the same conclusions as those obtained by 

 the lactometer and cream measurer, yet, 

 when accuracy is required, as for legal pur- 

 poses, the latter test should be preferred. 



THE CONDENSATION OF MILK. 



THE haphazard and unjust remarks 

 made by Dr Smith on the condensa- 

 tion of milk, in his lecture before the British 

 Association recently, were, it is satisfactory 

 to know, met with the return they merited. 

 Dr Smith, it will be remembered, not only 

 accused the presei-ved milk companies of en- 

 deavouring to sell their product at a price 

 much greater than the same quantity of milk 

 could be bought at, but gave it as his opinion 

 that skimmed milk was used by most of the 

 manufacturers of the condensed fluid — 

 an assertion which it turned out was 

 both unfounded and unjustifiable. If 

 philosophers, in their no doubt laudable 

 endeavours to expose any fraud which 

 may lurk under the surface of seeming 

 excellence, lose sight of veracity and fair 

 play, it is feared they will bring themselves 

 into disrepute. We find a very impartial 

 sketch of the system of the Aylesbury Con- 

 densed Milk Company in the Grocer., which 

 it will be interesting to reproduce. It will 



be seen that the company and the farmers 

 work well together. 



The English Condensed Milk Company, 

 says our contemporary, has now been in 

 existence about two years, the factory 

 at Aylesbury having been in working 

 operation during that period. The mana- 

 ger of the company — Mr Merriam — 

 was formerly connected with the Anglo- 

 Swiss Company, and was, indeed, the first to 

 introduce and popularize lait conserve 

 amongst the British public, The establish- 

 ment of condensed milk factories in this 

 country was unquestionably a great agricul- 

 tural innovation. Farmers could only regard 

 it in the light of a houIevcrseme?it, but still 

 one which was decidedly beneficial to their 

 interests. In the neighbourhood of Ayles- 

 bury the bucolic mind was sufficiently en- 

 lightened to perceive that the offers of the 

 agents of this Company to take their milk off" 

 their hands at a certain price was an advan- 

 tageous one, and accordingly they accepted 



