Jan, 27, 1876J 



NATURE 



243 



name of " Butterine." He also stated that his method of 

 analysis was one unknown outside the Inland Revenue 

 laboratory, and that the only test on which he placed 

 much reliance was the specific gravity of the fatty matter, 

 whilst he had been unable from the few experiments he 

 had made to corroborate the statement of Messrs, Hehner 

 and Angell, that genuine butter fat never yields more 

 than about 86 per cent, of fatty acids on saponification. 



Although the case could not be reopened, the evidence 

 of several Public Angsts who had examined the sample 

 was taken, and in most respects distinctly showed that the 

 secret method of examination adopted by Mr. Bell was 

 utterly unreliable. Dr. Dupre, F.R.S., Mr. Wigner, and 

 Ir. de Konigh each found that the butter-fat contained 

 close upon 94 per cent, of fatty acids, genuine butter not 

 yielding more than 86, and ordinar}- fats giving about 95 

 per cent On microscopic examination a crystalline 

 structure (evidence of fusion) was noticeable ; the melting 

 point was 4" C. lower than genuine butter ; the matter 

 mistaken by Vlx. Bell for caseine was no such substance, 

 but only fragments of woody tissue and similar vegetable 

 organised matter ; the physical structure of the substance 

 was different from that of genuine butter, as it possessed 

 on the tongue the peculiar granular feeling of " butterine," 

 and also tasted like the latter. The same results were 

 also arrived at by other analysts, six having examined 

 the sample, and all agreeing with Dr. Muter that the sub- 

 stance contained either no butter at all or ver)- little. 



On the other hand, Mr. Harkness and Mr. Lewes 

 r.ssistant to Mr. Bell) stated that they could see no 

 crystals under the microscope, but admitted that woody 

 :.bre and other vegetable matter was present. 



Finally, the case was dismissed, the Vestry being 

 ordered to pay the costs of the Somerset House analysis ; 

 the magistrates, however, consented to grant a case for 

 appeal if the ^'estry desired to adopt that course. 



Comment on the above would seem almost superfluous ; 

 but the question naturally arises, of what use is it in 

 Government taking up valuable time in passing Acts, and 

 in counties, districts, and parishes going to the expense of 

 appointing analysts in accordance with these Acts, if the 

 operations of these gentlemen are to be rendered nugatory 

 ^y being liable to be overthrown by appeal to an authority 

 which, however competent in reference to its own parti- 

 cular department, is nevertheless by its o\vn showing 

 scarcely possessed of sufficient experience, and is cer- 

 tainly not of sufficient standing and position to be ad- 

 missible as a final adjudicator on such matters ? The 

 position of Public Analysts was surely bad enough 

 without this indignity and injustice ; most of the offices 

 are grossly underpaid ; the appointments are often in the 

 hands of persons utterly incompetent to judge of the re- 

 spective merits of candidates, and who not infrequently 

 elect, not the applicant of highest scientific and profes- 

 sional standing, but the one who sinks his self-respect 

 lowest by canvassing and flattering the electors. As a 

 consequence many of the best known chemists refuse to 

 have anything to do \\4th such appointments, and the 

 public loses the chance of valuable services. Further, 

 when mistakes and blunders are made by persons who 

 never ought to have been elected at all, there is a gene- 

 ral cry against "the incompetence of Public Analysts," 

 and discredit is brought on the whole class, worthy and 



unworthy alike. The inevitable results of insisting upon 

 the analysts of Somerset House or any other set of 

 men (unless specially trained and adapted for such a 

 position) being made referees whose decisions shall over- 

 ride the results of careful and conscientious chemists, 

 will be that the best and most accurate work of the Public 

 Analysts will be wasted, that they themselves will be 

 brought into contempt, that many of the best of them 

 will be forced to resign their appointments, and finally, 

 that the Act will become to a great extent a dead letter. 



HARTLEY'S ''AIR AND ITS RELATION TO 

 LIFE" 



Air and its Relation to Life. By Walter Noel Hartley, 

 F.C.S., Demonstrator of Chemistry, and Lecturer on 

 Chemistry in the Evening Class Department, King's 

 College, London. (London : Longmans, Green, and 

 Co., 1875) 



OF all the so-called improvements which have been 

 effiected from time to time in the means by which 

 we make ourselves comfortable and render ourselves in- 

 dependent of the limitations which nature would impose 

 upon us — perhaps the introduction of gas was hailed and 

 has been looked upon as among the greatest. It wants 

 but little experience, however, of the manner in which 

 people live in towns, to convince us that the reverse of 

 this is the case, and that the pain and misery which it has 

 been the means of inflicting must far outweigh its advan- 

 tages. If anyone doubts this let him examine his sensa- 

 tions in a morning, after having spent the pre\'ious 

 evening in a close room blazing with gas, and compare 

 them ivith what he feels after having spent the corre- 

 sponding hours in the open air, or in a fresh room mode- 

 rately lighted with oil or candles. There are but few people 

 to whom such experience would not show that the effect 

 of the gas was a feeling of lassitude and depression, if not 

 a downright headache ; and if they were to repeat the 

 experiment, who would not suffer a general loss of tone. 

 Yet wherever gas is to be procured this is precisely the 

 misery to which people subject themselves. In nine out 

 of ten houses in the neighbourhood of towns, if one goes 

 from the fresh air into a room in which the people are sitting 

 on a winter evening, the first breath is enough to suffocate 

 one, and yet the people within the room are entirely un- 

 conscious ; they may be more or less restless and de- 

 pressed, but as this is their normal state they do not 

 recognise the cause. In this way, to say nothing of what 

 takes place in theatres and places of amusement, the 

 evils which gas is answerable for are incalculable, though 

 if they could be estimated they must far outweigh the 

 blessings which accrue from the abimdance and cheapness 

 of its light. 



The fact is that the money cost of the fuel forms only 

 one part of the expense of light ; there is the consump- 

 tion of oxygen, and in this gas is very extravagant ; so 

 that although we now obtain tenfold the light in our 

 rooms which we had before the introduction of gas with- 

 out any increase of expense in money, we have to pay for 

 it by a tenfold vitiation of the air. Three or four gas 

 flames consume as much air as a moderate lire, yet who 

 would live in a room with a fire or even a pan of charcoal 

 without a chimney. Yet it is a common thing to go into 



