272 



NATURE 



[Feb. 3, 1876 



Dr. Muter's analysis — 



Water =■ i5'oo per cent. 



Salt = 3-96 „ „ 



Curd - 2-14 „ „ 



Foreign f^xt = SV^ „ „ 

 Butter fat = 237 „ „ 



The fat was thus made up of 30 per cent, of butter fat 

 and 70 per cent, foreign fats. The fat had a melting point 

 below that of butter, and yielded 93-3 per cent, of fatty 

 acids. When examined by the microscope the butter was 

 found to contain fat in a crystalline state, and the so- 

 called curd consisted of vegetable matter, which was 

 described as parenchyma. Finally, the butter was stated 

 to be but slightly rancid. 



Dr. Muter said that his standard for genuine butter 

 was 88 per cent, of fatty acids. 



Dr. Muter, who appears to have had sufficient of his 

 sample to supply several of his friends, was supported in 

 Court by his assistant Mr. De Konigh, Dr. Duprd, Mr. 

 Wigner, and a microscopist. 



Dr. Diipr^ and Mr. Wigner' s Results. — Dr. Dupr^ 

 found in the fat 94*05 per cent, and Mr. Wigner 94* 20 

 per cent, fixed fatty acids, and the melting-point of 

 the fat 4° C. below that ''of genuine butter. On a 

 microscopic examination of the butter, both found crys- 

 tals of fat, which indicated that it had been fused. They 

 also stated that the butter was practically free from 

 rancidity. 



Dr. Dupr^ was of opinion, from the results of his 

 analysis, that there was a doubt whether the sample con- 

 tained any butter at all ; and Mr. Wigner considered that 

 if it contained any butter-fat the quantity must be small, 

 but indeed he thought it was foreign fat simply flavoured 

 with caproic acid. He further stated that his standard 

 for pure butter was 87*5 per cent, fatty acids. 



Somerset House Results. — The portion of the sample 

 retained by the inspector, and referred by the magistrate 

 to Somerset House for analysis, weighed about 45 

 grammes, and it was stated that the experiments per- 

 formed were not only of an exhaustive character, but 

 were repeated in most instances. 



The chemists there found as follows :— 

 Water = 9'83 per cent. 

 Salt = 370 „ 

 Curd = o*93 „ 

 Fat = 85-54 „ 



The fat gave a melting point of 33"3° C, a density of 

 ■9053 at 100° Fahr., and yielded 887 per cent, fatty acids, 

 the latter being seven-tenths above Dr. Muter's standard. 



The butter was found to be very rancid, and this 

 rancidity would account for the slight excess of fixed fatty 

 acids, it having been found by actual experiment that 

 butter depreciates by exposure, and that there is a cor- 

 responding increase of the fixed fatty acids found in the fat. 



On a microscopic examination the butter was found 

 to be free from crystals of fat, and the only foreign sub- 

 stances present were a few particles of impurities con- 

 sisting of hard wood and cotton thread. 



The following are the results of the analysis of the fat 

 of an article corresponding to " butterine," which was 

 referred to in Court as having been examined in exactly 

 a similar way as the sample in dispute : — 



Fatty acids, 93'32 per cent., melting-point, 25° C, and 

 density of fat at 100" F. = "90108. 



The processes followed by the different chemists for the 

 analysis of the samples differed but little, but the chemists 

 at Somerset House adopted an additional safeguard 

 against error in saponifying the fats, by taking the density 

 of the fat in the sample at a temperature of 100° F. 



The melting-point, the density of the fat, and the 

 quantity of fixed fatty acids were clearly shown to be in 

 complete accord, and these three results are certainly 

 most important in their direct bearing on the accuracy of 

 the analysis. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ST. HELENA 



'X'HE following extracts from a letter addressed to Dr. 

 -*• Hooker by Mr. Wollaston, who has been residing 

 for some months in St. Helena for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the insect fauna, can hardly fail to be interesting 

 to students of geographical distribution : — 



"Plantation House, St. Helena, Nov. 22, 1875 

 " At this season of the year it is extremely difficult to 

 obtain seeds, for the genuine native plants which arc 

 still not extinct, in addition to being extremely few 

 in number, nearly all grow in places very difficult 

 of access at a time when the upper ridges are nearly 

 always covered with cloud, and only a certain pro- 

 portion of them are showing any signs of active life 

 (in the shape of flowers and seeds) ; but I have been able 

 to collect three out of the four species of cabbage-trees, a 

 Lobelia, two or three Wahlenbergias, and (best of all) the 

 extremely rare Aster (or Comviideudron) Burcliellii. This 

 last is, I think, as nearly extinct as anything still living 

 can be. Mr. Melliss says there is only one plant of it in 

 the island ; but in that he is wrong, for we counted two 

 or three, in full blossom, in the same grove of the Aster 

 gummiferus, in which he records the existence of his 

 single individual. We have, however, seen it nov/here 

 else, and it is decidedly on its last legs. Even the A. 

 gummiferus is excessively ra^-e, and I shall hope to get 

 you seeds of it before we leave the island ; as well as of 

 the Commidendron robustum (the true ' gum-wood ').... 

 The A. Bu7-chellii is so rare that I have been drying you 

 a few specimens, feeling that (as it may soon be gone 

 altogether if we cannot persuade the islanders to spare it 

 from their donkey-loads of firewood) you might, perhaps, 

 like some fresh ones. . . . 



" The insect flora, although so extremely limited that I 

 have not in nearly even three months collected more in 

 Coleoptera than 150 species, still continues to keep up its 

 character for eccentricity — ringing the changes on some 

 half a dozen types (chiefly Rhyncophorous) to a mar- 

 vellous extent. We seem indeed never to exhaust them, 

 turning up new species almost every time that we can 

 secure a hard day's work on the Composita: ridge. Having 

 ultimately to work them out, I take scores of specimens, 

 and must have mounted carefully some six or seven 

 thousand already." T. D. 



NOTES 



The following are the proposed movements of H.M.S. ChaU 

 ledger : — She was to leave Valparaiso on Dec. 10, and arrive at 

 the Falkland Isles on Jan. 10 ; leave on Feb. 6, arrive at Monte 

 Video Feb. 18 ; leave Feb. 28, arrive at Tristan d'Acuhna 

 March 20; leave March 21, arrive at Ascension April 7 ; leave 

 April 14, arrive at St. Vincent May 5 ; leave May 12, and arrive 

 in England June 12. 



The Senior Wrangler in this year's Cambridge Mathematical 

 Tripos is Mr. Joseph Timmis Ward, of .St. John's, son of 

 the late Mr. Henry Ward, of Banbury. He was educated at 

 Rochester Cathedral Grammar School, under the Rev. R. 

 Whiston. Mr. William L. Mollison, of • Clare, the Second 

 Wranglei*, is a native of Aberdeen, and is the son of Mr. W. 

 Mollison, of that town. He was educated at the Grammar 

 School and University of Aberdeen. 



We would call attention to the advertisement in to-day's 

 Nature by the Kew Committee, offering to the public greater 

 facilities for the verification of instruments than have hitherto 

 existed at Kew. 



We understand that the eminent ornithologist, Dr. G. Hart- 

 laub, of Bremen, has in preparation a new work on the Birds of 

 Madagascar. This will be a considerable undertaking, as since 



