64 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



beg your acceplance. To induce you lo do so ihe 

 more readily, I will state, that as 1 have retained 

 one of Ihe game description, it will be no depriva- 

 tion to nie, and that i am gratified lo have an op- 

 portunity of placing it in hands, belter than my 

 own to test its utility. 



I have long thought it a desideratum of impor- 

 tance to larincrs, to be able, by some easy means, 

 to estimate the relative value of milch cows, the 

 effects ol" different kinds of (Ijod on the product of 

 the cow, and the comparative fitness of pastures, 

 as to the same. VViiether this Galactomelre of 

 M. Cadet-de-Vaux, wd! answer the purpose, re- 

 mains to be tried. From the printed description 

 which I send you, it would seem, tiiat it was 

 chiefly designed to detect the adulterations prac- 

 tised in milk brought to market. But on the same 

 principle, I should suppose it would indicate with 

 accuracy enou<rh for common purposes, its rela- 

 tive richness, if graduated to that end ; indeed, as 

 you will remark, it is, in the description in gene- 

 ral terms so said ; "plus le num&ro 1«'' est decou- 

 vert en s'approchant de 0, plus le. lait est cre- 

 meux ;"* but as no scale is marked below No. 1, 

 we are left in uncertainty, as to fixing the quan- 

 tum of creamy, or butyraceous matter. As it has 

 been but lately received, I have not yet been able 

 to test it otherwise than as to adulteration ol' milk 

 by water; in this, I found it quite accurate, as to 

 the portions of water introduced. I tried it on the 

 rtiiik, as just drawn from several of my cows, and 

 found the rod immersed nearly to the same point, 

 in eacli case at and about 0. This result was ex- 

 pected, as the cows were of the same family, and 

 good, being all Devons, and (ed in the same way 

 at this season, on beets and cut hay. 



I have remarked, that in the investigations 

 made some years ago by J\'l. Barruel of Paris, 

 in relation to the adulteration of milk, (republished 

 in the 1st number of your Vol. 2,) it is said " that 

 all instruments for ascertaining the purity of milk, 

 which are calculated to attain this end by pointing 

 out differences in its density, or specific gravity, 

 are inaccurate and useless," and that he attributes 

 this difficulty, in part, to the liict (as held too by 

 others,) of ihe suspension in pure milk of ca- 

 seous, as well as of butyraceous matter, and to the 

 difference of density in the milk, as the one or the 

 other of these may happen to preponderate, but 

 mainly to the case of its adulteration by Ibrt-rgn 

 matter, other than water, devices toward which 

 are quoted, as practised in Paris, some of which 

 so ingenious and even scientific, as to baffle detec- 

 tion by any but chemists. Yet, so far as I have 

 looked into the subject, I can but be of the opinion, 

 that the plan adopied by the ingenious Mrs. Ijovi 

 of Edinburgh, in the use of the aereometric beads, 

 invented by her as long ago as 1816. and com- 

 mended by the Highland Society, by which the 

 specific nrraviiy of milk is tried, first when just 

 drawn from the cow, and next, when after siand- 

 inrr the proper lime, it is skimmed of its cream, 

 wlien it will be found that the skimmed milk is of 

 irreaier specific gravity, and this increase being 

 produced by the separation of tiie lighter body, 

 the cream, the quaniuin of that increase, or the 

 difference between the specific gravity of the new, 



* " The more that the mark of No. 1 is left uncover- 

 od anrl approaching to 0, the inore creamy is the 

 milk/-— Ed. 



and the skimmed miik, will bear proportion to, 

 and may be taken as a measure olj the relative 

 quantities of the oily matter or butter, contained 

 in different milks, and without, as I suppose, any 

 sensible deviation caused by the caseous or cheesy 

 matter that may exist in them ; to ascertain the 

 quantum of which oily or butter-matter is to us in 

 this quarter of the country, where cheese is rarely 

 made, the great object ; and if this can be attain- 

 ed by the process just described with the beads. 

 I see no reason why the Galactometre now under 

 consideration properly graduated, may not, by 

 means of the same process, be successfully used, 

 and it may perhaps, because of its simplicity; be 

 better adapted to general use. 



I submit these remarks, crude as they are, my 

 dear sir, to your revision, if you think them wortlr 

 the trouble, and the Galactometre to your exami- 

 nation, and better judgment, as lo its application, 

 should you deem it likely to be useful to our ag- 

 ricultural interests. 



Your obedient servant, 



J. Masoiv. 



The neat little instrument which we received" 

 with the foregoing letter, w^as accompanied by the 

 advertisement of the inventor, or salesman, in 

 French, from which we extract and translate the 

 following description. 



"A thin tube of glass, constructed upon the 

 principle of all other instruments for showing the 

 specific gravity of fluids, (pese-liqueurs,) offers a 

 graduation from to 4 degrees. 



No. 1 indicates pure milk ; 



2 " the addition of one-fourth oP 



water ; 



3 " that of a third of water; 



4 " that of a half of water ; and 

 the more the mark is covered, the still greater the 

 excess of water. In like manner, the more that 

 No. 1 is uncovered [or rises above the surface of 

 the milk,] and No. approaches to thesuiface, 

 the more creamy or rich is the milk. 



"This very simple and distinctly marked grad- 

 uation clearly shows the differences of value. 



" It is obvious that, by ihe immersion of this' 

 tube in the vessel containing milk, it will be known, 

 without calculation, if the milk is, or is not, adul- 

 terated to the extent of a quarter, third, or half, of 

 water. The instrument receives its name from 

 this convenient properly; gala, milk, and meiron, 

 measure, or milk-measure, 



"Price— tube of silver - - 22 francs. 

 " of glass - - 3 francs. 



Those who may desire to purchase at Paris, 

 should order the " Galadometre selon Cadet-de- 

 Vaux, construit par LVngenieur Chevallier, Op- 

 ticien du Roi, 8fc. Sfc. Tour de VHorloge du 

 Palais, No. 1, vis d vis le Marchc aux Fleurs.^' 



We think that this cheap little instrument would 

 not only be very useful for making euch experi- 

 mcn!s upon the natural milk of different cows and- 



