ALCOHOL ON BUTTER. 109 



But we will suppose, for the sake of the argument, that 

 the alcohol is secreted by the milk-glands, and is drawn 

 from the udder mingled with the milk. A portion of it 

 rises with the cream, and is churned. Of course a large 

 portion of this alcohol, which has got thus far, must 

 remain in the buttermilk : the remainder must be so 

 infinitesimally small that it could have no perceptible 

 effect upon the butter. 



It is evident that the professor means, when he says 

 that the " fine flavor and texture " will be injured by the 

 alcohol, that this injury is accomplished by the bodily 

 presence of alcohol in such a quantity as to destroy the 

 integrity of the butter globules ; in other words, to 

 " cut" the butter as oil is " cut" when it is shaken in a 

 bottle with strong alcohol. 



Now, this alcohol, which goes all the way through the 

 various organs of the cow until it is found in the butter, 

 be the amount greater or smaller, certainly cannot 

 be very high "proof ; " and dilute alcohol has no power 

 to disintegrate butter, for you cannot "cut" ever so 

 small an amount of any kind of oil with alcohol the 

 strength of which, at once small, grows beautifully less 

 by being subjected to unlimited dilution every time the 

 cow drinks, and to evaporation every time she breathes. 



There are millions of excretory ducts, organs, and 

 glands, in the animal organism, whose office it is to 

 remove from the system the waste tissue and such use- 

 less substances (alcohol for instance) from the system 

 as may have been taken up by the absorbents. Does 

 Professor Arnold expect he can run alcohol through a 

 cow with these millions of leaks for it to escape by, and 

 catch it in the milk-pail strong enough to disintegrate 

 butter ? 



But the milk-glands are not excretory, but secretory 



