10 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



Lours more the fat becomes clear and takes on a yellow color and ac- 

 quires somewhat the taste and odor of fresh butter. The fat is now drawn 

 off into vessels and allowed to cool. It is then cut into pieces, wrapped 

 in linen, and put in a hydraulic press and kept at a temperature of about 

 25 G. By pressure the fat is separated into two portions, viz : stearine 

 40 to 50 per cent., and fluid oleo 50 to 60 per cent. The steariue remain- 

 ing in the presses is used in candle-making. Mege's patent, possessing 

 as it does historical interest, is given in full. 



A full citation of the various patents taken out in foreign countries 

 fe found in i: Sell's Kuustbutter." l 



The patents taken out in this country for the manufacture of artificial 

 butter are given below : 



LIST OF PATENTS GRANTED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OP 



BUTTER SUBSTITUTES. 



Hippolyte Mege, No. 146012, dated December 30, 1873. 

 To all whom it may concern : 



Be it known that I, HippolyteM6ge, of Paris, France, have discovered a new and 

 improved process of transforming animal fats into butter, of which the fol- 

 lowing is a full, clear, and exact description : 



The butter which is obtained from milk is produced by the cow elaborating her 

 own fat through her cellular mammary tissues at the low rate of tempera- 

 ture of the body. 



The animal fat from which the butter-cells in milk are produced is composed 

 chiefly of oleine, margarine, and stearine, and small quantities of other sub- 

 stances. . 



The natural process performed by the cow consists, mainly, first, in separating 

 the oleomargarine from the stearine without developing disagreeable odors 

 or flavors in the oleomargarine ; and, secondly, in producing a slight change 

 in the oleomargarine, by which it assumes the character of butter. 



My invention, hereinafter described, is based upon a discovery made by me, that 

 when the fat is rendered at a low temperature, considerably below that here- 

 tofore employed in the ordinary rendering of fat, it has the taste of molten 

 butter, and does not acquire that peculiarly disagreeable flavor heretofore 

 supposed to be necessarily attached to melted fat or tallow, and which is desig- 

 nated as " tallowy flavor." 



I have succeeded in obtaining excellent results by rendering the crude fat at a 

 temperature of 103 Fahrenheit, which is below the temperature at which the 

 tallowy flavor is created. The temperature maybe raised above this point 

 in order to facilitate the operation, provided care be taken to avoid attaining 

 the temperature at which the tallowy flavor is created. 



The precise limit to which it is safe to increase the rendering- temperature can be 

 ascertained by trial under various circumstances with the different kinds of 

 fat. The temperature must, however, be far below that heretofore ordinarily 

 used in rendering fats when no such object as I propose to wit, the making 

 of a butter-like product was had in view. I do not think it would be safe 

 to vary many degrees above that specifically indicated. 



I have also discovered that, in order to neutralize any fermentation of the fat he- 

 lore or during its treatment, the raw fat should, as soon as possible after the 

 death of the animal, be plunged in asolutiou of fifteen (15) per cent, of com- 

 mon salt and one per cent, of sulphate of soda, the etfect of which would be 

 to prevent such fermentation. 



'Arbeiteu a. d. Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte, pp. 481-493. 



