528 



NATURE 



[January 22, 1920 



as a luxury, but as a most essential part of the 

 diet. The citizen is divorced from gardens and 

 allotments, and the cost of transport makes a 

 cheap supply of greenstuff prohibitive. Milk has 

 become costly, and even when cheap was not 

 much drunk by the children of the poorer classes. 

 How many schools recognise the imperative needs 

 of children for green vegetables, fruit, and abun- 

 dance of milk? 



The fatality of the recent epidemics of influenza 

 may have been closely associated with deficiency 

 of fat-soluble A in the diet, for there is none in 

 the vegetable-oil margarine which has so largely 

 replaced butter. 



(2) The fifth edition of the late Sir Hermann 

 Weber's book on longevity, edited by his son, 

 Dr. Parkes Weber, is prefaced by Sir Clifford 

 Allbutt by many wise and illuminating remarks. 

 The motto of the author is no less old than true. 

 "Work, moderation, and contentedness are the 

 main sources of health, happiness, and long life." 

 A great apostle for open-air exercise, he justly 

 extols walking and climbing above all forms 

 of exercise. He lived to ninety-seven himself, 

 following the wise tenets which he lays 

 down. 



It is often asserted that longevity is an inborn 

 quality, and the cases of men are cited who have 

 attained old age and yet have been heavy eaters 

 or drinkers. Inquiring into the manner of living 

 and other antecedents of more than loo persons 

 living to between 86 and 102 years, Weber found 

 that although most of these persons belonged to 

 the well-to-do classes, and were not obliged to 

 restrict themselves, there were not more than 

 six amongst them who had more or less habitu- 

 ally indulged themselves by eating or drinking 

 largely ; many, on the contrary, were remarkable 

 for great moderation. He records the cases of 

 many middle-aged people with bad family histories 

 and showing themselves signs of breaking up in 

 health who, by his regimen of open-air exercise 

 and great moderation in food and alcohol, were 

 carried on in good health to eighty years or more, 

 while their brothers and sisters, following no such 

 regimen, died twenty years or so before them. 

 The evidence Weber thus adduces seems strong 

 enough to support his claim that great moderation 

 in eating and drinking, and plenty of open-air 

 exercise, can promote the duration of life of the 

 middle-aged to a marked extent. The degenera- 

 tions of the blood-vessels and other organs which 

 hasten the end of life are primarily due to toxins 

 absorbed from the bowels or from infections — 

 e.g. rheumatic fever, syphilis, etc. A clean, 

 healthy life keeps these away. 

 NO. 2621, VOL. 104] 



CHEESE- AND BUTTER-MAKING. 



(i) The Book of Cheese. By Charles Thorn and 

 Prof. Walter W. Fisk. (Rural Text-book 

 Series.) Pp. xvi-f392. (New York: The Mac- 

 millan Co. ; London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1918.) Price 8s. net. 



(2) Practical Butter-making : Fourth Revision. A 

 Treatise for Butter-makers and Students. By 

 C. W. . Walker-Tisdale and Theodore R. 

 Robinson. Pp. 143. (London : Headley 

 Brothers, Publishers, Ltd., n.d.) Price 55. 6d. 

 net. 



(i) "T^HE greater interest which is being taken 

 1 in the manufacture of cheese will assure 

 a welcome for this volume. It is one of the well- 

 known series edited by Prof. L. H. Bailey, and 

 it thoroughly warrants its inclusion in the list. 



Practical cheese-making has not had in this 

 country the study it requires to have, and whilst 

 a number of the standard cheeses have originated 

 here it cannot be said that, apart from Prof. 

 Lloyd's investigations in the making of Cheddar 

 cheese, any serious attempt has been made to 

 throw light upon the details of manufacture or 

 to explain the causes of the failures which arise 

 from time to time. 



In this volume the authors deal systematically 

 with the general method of cheese-making, and 

 state in simple language the process of milk co- 

 agulation and the theories which have been ad- 

 vanced in explanation. A chapter is devoted to 

 "starters," and it would be well if our dairy 

 students could receive greater facilities for pre- 

 paring and judging the cultures and noticing the 

 effect upon the cheese of a bad starter. A clear* 

 acid starter has a great influence upon the texture 

 and flavour of the cheese, as is well known, and 

 a maker who works with a bad starter cannot, 

 hope to produce a first-class cheese. Inability to 

 judge a good starter may mean the continuance 

 of flavours and faults which would have disap- 

 peared had the proper type of starter been used. 



Amongst the hard cheeses, chief place is natur- 

 ally given to Cheddar, as this type is the one com- 

 monly made in America and Canada. The appli- 

 ances suitable for a factory making Cheddar 

 cheese are described, and the process of making 

 the cheese is followed step by step. Various 

 types of cheese made in difl'erent countries, but 

 all prepared upon the Cheddar principle with 

 greater or less modification, are reviewed. 



The " Book of Cheese " has many other interest- 

 ing chapters, one even upon the food value of 

 cheese, the method of using it, and recipes for 

 dishes in which cheese plays an important part. 



