112 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June, 



ture of oleomargarine was issued in 

 this country in the year of 1873. 

 Since that time a number of other 

 patents have been taken out, but none 

 of them have as yet assumed any 

 considerable importance. Paraf ob- 

 tained a patent in April, 1873, for the 

 manufacture of what he termed " oleo- 

 margarine," and in December of the 

 same year the celebrated M^ge 

 patent was issued. The butter man- 

 ufactured under Paraf's patent pos- 

 sessed a distinctly crystalline charac- 

 ter. The Mege butter, however, is 

 smooth and palatable. The process 

 of manufacturing artificial butter may 

 be briefly described as follows : Caul 

 fat, thoroughly washed, is reduced to a 

 pulpy condition, and the fatty matter 

 separated from the adipose tissue by 

 melting at a temperature not higher 

 than 125" F. This low temperature 

 is essential to the success of the pro- 

 cess, for it is impossible to obtain a 

 perfectly bland, sweet oil at a higher 

 temperature. After settling and skim- 

 ming, the oil is drawn off and per- 

 mitted to solidify. It is then packed 

 in cloths and subjected to gradually 

 increasing pressure, at a temperature 

 of 8o°-9o<' F., until all the oil is 

 pressed out, leaving cakes of pure, 

 white stearine in the press. When 

 the oil attains a temperature of 70° F. 

 it is churned with sour milk and then 

 drawn out of the churn into tubs 

 containing pounded ice, where it im- 

 mediately solidifies. After separat- 

 ing it from the ice it is finely crumbled 

 by hand, and again churned in sour 

 milk, after which it is worked, salted, 

 and packed for sale. 



The manufacture of artificial butter 

 in this country has become a very 

 important industry. During the year 

 ending June, 1880, there were ex- 

 ported from the United States 

 19,833,330 pounds of oleomargarine, 

 valued at $2,581,317. 



As to its relations to true butter, it 

 need only be said that many persons 

 cannot distinguish it from the latter. 

 However, undoubtedly a good butter- 

 taster could not be deceived. 



It is my opinion that one can al- 

 ways detect the oleomargarine by the 

 taste alone ; but this is not said with 

 any great degree of assurance. How- 

 ever, there can be no doubt that the 

 better grades of oleomargarine are 

 more palatable than common butter. 

 On the score of healthfulness, oleo- 

 margarine can be confidently recom- 

 mended. Chemically, it has almost 

 the same composition as butter ; it 

 differs from butter mainly in having 

 a much smaller percentage of certain 

 fats peculiar to butter to which its 

 characteristic odor and flavor are due. 

 The object of the second churning is 

 to introduce some of these into the 

 product. It contains also more casein 

 than butter. Owing to the absence of 

 the fats above referred to, the arti- 

 ficial butter is not likely to become 

 rancid. 



As the subject of adulteration has 

 lately been before the Society, a brief 

 notice of the adulterations to which 

 butter is subjected may be of inter- 

 terest. It has been asserted that 

 lard is added to butter in the West ; 

 but no authoritative information upon 

 that subject has yet come to my 

 notice. Oleomargarine butter is 

 mixed with the natural product by 

 the farmers, at least it is so stated 

 by persons who are probably well- 

 informed upon the subject ; and this 

 adulteration would be very difficult to 

 detect unless the microscope would 

 reveal it, and it undoubtedly would 

 in some cases. An excess of salt in 

 butter constitutes an adulteration ; 

 for not only does the salt injure 

 the butter for consumption, but it 

 also enables the maker to incor- 

 porate a large amount of water with 

 the butter, — even as much as 40 per 

 cent, of water has been found in but- 

 ter, held by the excess of salt. 



The microscopical examination of 

 butter and oleomargarine must be 

 conducted with extreme care, for it 

 is very easy to draw erroneous con- 

 clusions. Nevertheless, I am in- 

 clined to believe that the microscope 

 will, when properly used, enable us 



