630 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Methods for rendering cows' milk more nearly like human 

 milk, Backhaus {Jour. Landir.^ 44 [IS'JG], Nos. 3., pp. 279-298 ; 4, 2>P- 

 299-309). — This article treats at leugtli tbe composition and cliemistry 

 of cows' milk and human milk, and the methods which have been sug- 

 gested for treating cows' milk so as to make it more nearly resemble 

 human milk in composition and general effect, dividing these methods 

 into 11 groups. The author describes a new method devised by him- 

 self, which consists in removing the cream from whole milk by sepa- 

 rator and treating the skim milk with a mixture of rennet, trypsin 

 ferment, and sodium carbonate at 40° C. for 30 minutes. This changes 

 a part of the casein, giving 1.25 per cent of soluble albumen, and 

 curdles the rest of the casein. The heat is then increased to check the 

 action of the ferments, the curdled casein removed by straining, suffi- 

 cient cream of the right concentration added to give 3.5 jjer cent of fat 

 and 0.5 per cent of casein, and about 1 x>er cent of milk sugar is added. 

 The preparation is then i^asteurized. 



The ferments used are sui)plied in powdered form, and it was found 

 that mixtures of the rennet, trypsin, and sodium carbonate could be 

 kept for several weeks without any i^articular detriment. The propor- 

 tions of the mixture must be determined experimentally for the skim 

 milk of different herds, so as to furnish the products (soluble albumen 

 and casein) in the right proportion. The treatment diminishes the ash, 

 but makes it nearer in amount to that of human milk. 



As to the digestibility of milk prepared in the above way, the trypsin 

 whey gave the biuret reaction for peptones, while, as is well known, 

 common milk contains no peptone; and a number of experiments with 

 Stutzer's method of artificial digestion showed 91.5 per cent of the pro-^ 

 teids in the prepared milk to be digested, on an average, while the 

 average was 87.22 per cent of those in a cream mixture of like albumen' 

 content, and 75.175 per cent of those in whole milk. However, there 

 were quite considerable differences between the results of separate 

 trials. 



The prepared milk has been tried on a large number of children with 

 good success thus far,^and is being made at several creameries on a 

 commercial scale. 



Report for 1895 of the municipal laboratory for examination of 

 foods and condiments in Nuremberg, Kammerer {Chcm. Zttj., 20 

 {1890), No. 78, pp. 758, 759). — The examination of beers, butter, oleo. 

 margarin, milk, vinegar, honey, flour, mineral waters, etc., are briefly 

 reported upon. Fifty-two samples of butter were examined. The 

 acidity of the butter ranged from l.GG to 21.4, and averaged 10.5; the 

 acidity of the butter fat ranged from 1.08 to 20.75, and averaged 7.55; 

 and the Kottstorfler saponification equivalent of the butter fat ranged 



