BUTTON MANUFACTURE 551 



melting it with a moderate heat, whereby are coagulated tho albuminous and curdy 

 matters remaining in it, which are very putrescible. This fusion should be made by 

 tho heat of a warm bath, about 176 F., continued for some time, to effect tho more 

 complete purification of the butter. If in this settled liquefied state it be carefully 

 decanted, strained through a tammy cloth, and slightly salted, it may be kept for a 

 long time nearly fresh, without becoming in any degree rancid, more especially if it 

 be put up in small jars closely covered. 



In Cornwall and Western Devon, the first process in tho manufacture of butter is 

 the formation of the cream by heat. After the milk has stood for from twelve to 

 twenty hours at rest, so that the cream globules may rise to the surface, it is ex- 

 posed to a very slow heat, until it acquires a temperature of about 200 F. ; care 

 being taken that, if it exceeds this, the milk never boils. The pellicle of cream 

 being formed, the vessel is removed from the fire, and allowed to cool ; when cold, 

 the butter is made from this cream in the usual way. 



When subjected to microscopical examination, milk is found to consist of infinitely 

 minute globular particles floating in a serous fluid. Easpail says the largest of these 

 globules are not above l-2500th of an inch in diameter. These globules consist 

 essentially of butter. In the East, butter is prepared for keeping by carefully melting 

 it over a very slow fire, and removing the scum as it rises. Thenard recommends 

 this process, but directs that it should be carried out by the use of a water-bath. 

 If good fresh butter is wrapped in a piece of linen and plunged into a strong brine, 

 it will keep good, withoiit saltness, for a long period. 



Butter is preserved by salting in Ireland, in Holland, and in the Channel Islands. 

 In 1872 we exported 56,322 cwts., of the value of 327,43lZ. of which 23,431 cwts. 

 were sent to Brazil. See MILK. 



BUTTERS, raiCTERAIi. The old chemists called several of the metallic 

 chlorides, butters ; as butter of antimony, butter of tin, butter of bismuth, &c. 



BUTTER OF ANTIMONY. An old name for the anhydrous chloride of 

 antimony. 



BUTTER OF CACAO. Sec CACAO. 



BUTTER, VEGETABLE. A greasy substance expressed from the kernels of 

 the JBassia butyracea, a native of N6rth India. This grease is said to make excellent 

 soap. Shea butter is obtained from tho B. ParJeii, of West Africa, and has been used 

 in making candles and soap. Tho butter-tree of Sierra Leone is tho Pentadcsma 

 butyracea (Br.), the fruit of which yields much grease, eaten by the negroes. 



BUTTON' MANUFACTURE. This art is divided into several branches, con- 

 stituting so many distinct trades. Metal, horn, leather, bone, and wood, are the 

 substances frequently employed for buttons, which are either plain, or covered with 

 silk, mohair, thread, and other ornamental materials. The most durable and orna- 

 mental buttons are made of various metals, polished, or covered with an exceedingly 

 thin wash, as it is termed, of silver or gold. 



The buttons intended to be covered with silk, &c., are termed in general moulds. 

 They are small circles, perforated in the centre, and made from those refuse chips of 

 bone which are too small for other purposes. For the large and coarser buttons, 

 pieces of hard wood, are sawn into thin flakes, of an equal thickness ; from which, by 

 a machine, the button moulds are cut oufe at two operations. 



White metal and brass buttons, as well as plated buttons, are stamped by the fly- 

 press, out of copper-plate, covered on one side with silver at the flatting mill. The 

 copper side is placed upwards in stamping, and the dye or hole through which they 

 are stamped is rather chamfered at its edge, to make the silver turn over the edge of 

 the button. The backs are stamped in the same manner as the gilt buttons. The 

 shanks are soldered on with silver solder, and heated, one by one, in the flame of a 

 lamp, with a blow pipe urged by bellows. The edges are now filed smooth in the 

 lathe, care being taken not to remove any of the silver which is turned over the edge. 

 They are next dipped in acid, to ng'i 



clean the backs, and boiled in 

 cream of tartar and silver to 

 w-hiten them ; after which they 

 are burnished, the backs being 

 first brushed clean by a brush 

 held against them as they re- 

 volve in the lathe. The mode 

 of burnishing is the same as for 

 gilt buttons. When the buttons 

 are first cut they have exceed- 

 ingly sharp edges, to correct which and to produce a round, smooth, wire-like 

 edge, they are rolled between two parallel pieces of stoel, one moving horizontally 



