90 THE MICROSCOPE. 



Milk Adulteration. — The milkmen of Scotland seem just 

 now to be in luck. According to the British Medical Journal, a 

 dairyman of Glasgow recently adulterated, or rather reduced, his 

 commodity fifty-six per cent, by skim-milk. Some one bought 

 about three pennyworth of this milk, and, suspecting crookedness, 

 had it analyzed. The offender was brought to justice, but escaped 

 punishment through the smartness of his attorney, who was able to 

 make the law so read that the purchaser must state that he desires 

 for analytical purposes all or a part of the milk bought. That is, as 

 the law stands in Glasgow, it is criminal to adulterate milk intended 

 for the chemist's laboratory, but venial if it be designed for general 

 consumption. 



We take it that the statute will have to go back to its framers 

 for revision; and in the meantime skim-milk, without let or hin- 

 drance, will do its fearful work upon the defenseless people. 



" O, Scotland, Scotland ! 



O, nation miserable ! " 



— Louisville Medical News. 



Is THERE Danger in Milk. — The question of the impurity of 

 milk, as a probable cause of disease, has been agitated quite frequent- 

 ly of late in different sections of the country. Here, in Louisville, 

 where it is supposed by the outside world, we never see anything 

 but the richest and purest, and most delicious kinds of milk it were 

 possible to obtain, complaint has already been made of the dangers 

 of allowing the milk-men to drive across the little streams, as for in- 

 stance, Beargrass Creek, Paddy's Run, etc. Now, it is barely pos- 

 sible that scarlet fever, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and a host of other 

 diseases, may possibly arise from poisons contained in the milk of 

 diseased cattle. It is, likewise, possible that the unfortunate milk- 

 man, who lingers by the way-side, in the early hours of the morning, 

 may incur the risk of having his mifk contaminated by the process 

 of dilution, which is so likely lo follow. As pork and beans may de- 

 stroy life, so may milk, or even pure, cold water. — Med. Herald. 



Oleomargarine Again. — Prom the first we have regarded this 

 product as a contribution ot chemical science to domestic economy, 

 in the interests of the human family. Were it not for the motives 

 of trade and the fears of competition on the part of the dairymen, 



