166 TIIK FKEEZING POINT OF MILK. 



The legal standard] for milk in Qiieenslaricl is : — " Milk 

 shall be the normal, clean, and fresh secretion obtained by 

 completely emptying the udder of the healthy cow, properly fed 

 and kept, excluding that got during fifteen days immediately 

 before, and ten days immediately following on, parturition. 

 It shall contain not less than eight and five-tenths per centum 

 of milk solids not fat, three and three-tenths per centum of milk 

 fat, and not less than twelve parts per centum of total solids ; 

 its freezing point shall not be higher than 0-55°C below zero." 



This is a distinct advance on the old 8.5 Solids not 

 Fat and 3'0 per cent. Fat standard which almost mvariably 

 permitted the addition of at least 4-0 per cent, of water 

 without the mixture falling below the standard. The 

 average of the milk supply of Brisbane is 8-1) per cent. 

 Solids not Fat, and 4-1 per cent, of Fat. 



So far as we know this is the first occasion in the history 

 of milk control that the freezing point has actnally been 

 included iti the legal minimum standard, though on the 

 continent of Europe its use by food analysts in judging 

 the quality of milk is by no means new. It is Avorthy of 

 note that in Queensland there is no "' appeal to the cow." 

 The la\\ provides not only that the milk shall be pure and 

 clean and from healthy cows, but that it shall reach the 

 above noted e()m[)Osition. Pure milk, which owing to its 

 being derived from herds of unsuitable l)reed or from herds 

 badly fed, falls beloM the prescribed standard may not 

 be sold in Queensland. 



In the paper above referred to it was pointed out 

 that the attempts to solve the problem of added water in 

 milk by treatment of the milk serum had all proved of 

 little practical value. The refractive index method of which 

 most was expected has lieen shown to be of little use. The 

 index reading varies between thirty- nine and forty- six, 

 which means that a rich 46 milk might* have nearly 20 per 

 cent, of water added to it ere falling below the 39 minimum. 

 AjDart from the manipulation difficulties which are not 

 small, the range of readings on genuine milk makes the 

 process of little value. 



Since E. Beckmann (Milch Zeitung, 1894) drew atten- 

 tion to the constancy of the freezing point of milk, and 

 Winter in 1895 reported his work confirming it, the results 



