Chemical Analysis of Milk and Its Products. 231 



272. Rapid estimation of water in butter. A num- 

 ber of different methods have recently been proposed 

 for the rapid estimation of water in butter, the object 

 sought being to enable the buttermaker himself to ascer- 

 tain the^ water content of his butter without much 

 trouble or delay, and by using such simple apparatus 

 as he is likely to have in the creamery or can easily 

 procure at a low price. The subject of controlling the 

 per cent, of water in butter has become more important 

 than was earlier the case, through the passage of the 

 pure-food law and the promulgation of government food 

 standards in 1906 (305) ; these measures rendered the 

 question of guarding against an excessive water content 

 in the butter one of great importance to all butter- 

 makers. 



All the methods suggested but three (Wagner, Car- 

 roll, and Gray's, see below) are essentially the common 

 methods of chemical analysis, modified to meet the de- 

 mands of every-day factory conditions. It is difficult 

 to predict which one of these methods will be generally 

 adopted in creameries in the future, but references to 

 where descriptions of the different methods will be 

 found, are given below, and a few that are most likely 

 to be used in factories and outside of chemical labora- 

 tories, are described in detail, so that students may 

 readily understand and employ any one of these meth- 

 ods that may be deemed preferable. 



In all these rapid methods of determining the water 

 content in butter, the sample of butter must be pre- 

 pared so as to accurately represent the lot of butter 

 sampled and must be carefully weighed on a delicate 



