248 Report of the Chemical Department of the 

 Table I,— Showing Effect of Time on Cheese-Ripening. 



The data embodied in this table suggest the following state- 

 ments: 



(i) The total amoimt of nitrogen in the form of water-soluble 

 compounds increases as the cheese gains in age. This increase 

 is not uniform, since it is more rapid in the early stages of ripen- 

 ing, gradually decreasing in rate with the 'increasing age of the 

 cheese. Thus, calculating the average monthly increase of water- 

 soluble nitrogen, we have for the first month and a half an aver- 

 age monthly increase of 15 pounds for 100 pounds of nitrogen in 

 the cheese; for the period extending from i^ to 3 months, an 

 average monthly increase of 6.3 pounds; from 3 to 6 months, 2.1 

 pounds; from 6 to 9 months, 2.4 pounds; from 9 to 18 months, 

 0.3 poimd. Stated in another way, of the total amount of water- 

 soluble nitrogen compounds formed in the cheese during 18 

 months, 45.4 per ct. was formed in the first month and a half; 

 65.5 per ct. in the first 3 months; 76.5 per ct. in the first 6 

 months; and 92 per ct. in the first 9 months or one-half the entire 

 period covered by the study. 



(2) The nitrogen in the form of paracasein monolactate appears 

 to increase for 6 months and then gradually decrease. However, 

 these data are not calculated to show the variations of this com- 

 pound to advantage, since we have learned from other work of 

 ours that paracasein monolactate commonly appears at its maxi- 

 nuim (luantity in fresh cheese and is very largely changed into 



