Contribution to the cryoscopic examination of milk, 0. Allemann (Landw. 

 Jahrb. Schweiz, 19 {1905), No. 8, pp. 499-502).— Cryoscopic examinations of 23 samples 

 of milk of known purity showed on an average a freezing point of —0.571° C, while 

 1 1 samples to which 2 per cent of water had been added showed an average freezing 

 point of —0.554°, 11 samples to which 5 per cent of water had been added —0.536°, 

 11 samples to which 10 per cent had been added —0.500°, and 11 samples to which 

 20 per cent had been added —0.457°. 



This method in the hands of the expert analyst is believed to be very valuable in 

 the detection of added water in milk, due attention being paid to the acidity of the 

 milk and the possibility of the addition of preservatives which might affect the 

 results. On account of the skill and time required, this method is not considered as 

 useful in routine work as determinations of the specific gravity and fat. 



A method for the determination of hydrog-en peroxid in milk, together 

 with some observations on the preservation of milk by this substance, S. 

 Amberg {Jour. Biol. Chem., 1 {1906), No. 2-3, pp. 219-228).— The author has made 

 use of the method proposed by Richardson and which is based upon the color reac- 

 tion produced by a solution of titanium hydrate in sulphuric acid in the presence of 

 hydrogen peroxid. The method as applied by the author to milk was found to be 

 accurate when the hydrogen peroxid was present in quantities even as small as 1 : 5,000. 

 It is noticed that salicylic acid causes a color reaction which can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from that product by hydrogen peroxid. 



It was found that boiled milk uses up a certain amount of hydrogen peroxid inde- 

 pendently of catalytic and bacterial action, and the idea is advanced that this may 1 :e 

 due to the production of reducing substance by boiling. The literature relating to 

 the use of hydrogen peroxid for the preservation of milk is reviewed and the objec- 

 tions which have been raised to this method are noted. The author concludes that 

 although the efficiency of hydrogen peroxid in sterilizing milk in all cases has not 

 been established, and although the amount required for preserving milk for any 

 given length of time is uncertain, the harmlessness of the method seems to justify 

 its trial as a milk preservative. 



The identification of boric acid, O. vox Spindler (Ztschr. Untersuch. Nahr. u. 

 GenussmtL, 10 {1905), No. 8, pp. 478-482, fig. 1). — Recently published data on the 

 determination of boric acid are summarized, and a new form of apparatus described 

 for conveniently determining boric acid by the flame test. 



Formaldehyde and its reactions, J. Schuch {Ztschr. Landw. Versuchw. Oesterr., 

 8 {1905), No. 11, pp. 1058-1060).— The' author tested several methods for the deter- 

 mination of formaldehyde concluding that the Arnold and Mentzel method is the 

 best for the detection of formaldehyde in wine. 



METEOROLOGY WATER. 



R-eport of the Chief of the Weather Bureau for 1905, W. L. Moore ( U. S. 

 Dept. Agr., Weather Bur. Doc. 338, j>p. 37). — This report contains a review of 10 

 years' work of the Bureau under the present chief, as well as an account of work of 

 the year 1905, with recommendations. 



It is stated that the Bureau "has made such progress in its internal discipline and 

 in the results accomplished for the benefit of the farmer, the mariner, the shipper, 

 the manufacturer, and the seeker after health or pleasure, that there is no weather 

 service anywhere in the world comparable with it." It has developed and put into 

 effect a fair, yet rigid, discipline for the control of its personnel and a system of study 

 and examination which develops the intellectuality of 1hose who receive advance- 

 ment. "With such a discipline it has, with rare exceptions, given timely warning 

 of the coming of injurious changes in temperature, and allowed no important storms 

 or floods to come unannounced." 



