DAIRY PRODUCTS. 19 



Whereas the committee on public health of the assembly of this State has been 

 for some time investigating the adulteration of food products, and especially oleomar- 

 garine ; and 



Whereas this committee have conducted such investigation by calling as witnesses 

 principally dealers in butter and have not examined as witnesses medical or chemical 

 experts to determine the value of oleomargarine as food ; therefore 



Resolved, That the board of health of this city be, and they are hereby requested 

 and directed to take immediate measures to investigate in the most thorough manner, 

 by medical and chemical aid, the purity, health fulness, and value of said product as 

 an article of food, and to report to this body the results of their investigation, with 

 such recommendations, if any be necessary, as may relate to the manufacture and. dis- 

 tribution of the same as an article of food. 



This subject has been before the board on former occasions, and I have little to add 

 to what has been previously stated. 



Oleomargarine, invented by the distinguished French chemist, Mege-Mouries, is 

 manufactured in New York City in a few large establishments. The material is fresh 

 beef suet, brought directly from the slaughter-houses. It is thoroughly washed, ren- 

 dered very carefully, strained to remove a portion of the hard steariue, and then 

 churned with milk to convert it into artificial butter, which contains the same con- 

 stituents as dairy butter. The process is extremely ingenious and simple and exe- 

 cuted by machinery. Nothing objectionable exists in the original material, nor is 

 anything objectionable added during the process, and the operations are conducted 

 with the utmost cleanliness. The product is palatable and wholesome, can be made 

 of uniform quality the year round, is in every respect superior as an article of food to 

 a large proportion of dairy butter sold in this city, and can be man ufactnred at a much 

 lower price. I regard it as a most valuable article of food and consider it entirely un- 

 exceptional in every respect. In this opinion I am supported by the best scientific 

 authorities in the country. The folio wing distinguished chemists, after carefully study- 

 ing the manufacture, have made the most decided statements in favor of this new 

 article of food : 



Prof. George F. Barker, University of Pennsylvania. 



Dr. Henry A. Mott, jr., New York. 



Prof. G. C. Galdwell, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Prof. S. W. Johnson, Yale College, New Haven, Conn. 



Prof. C. A. Goessmaun, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. 



Prof. Henry Morton, Stevens Institute, Hobokeu, N. J. 



Prof. Charles P. Williams, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Prof. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyau University, Middletown, Conn. 



Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, University of New York. 



I would further say that this question is one on which there is no difference of 

 opinion among scientific investigators familiar with the chemistry of dairy produces 

 and fats. I have never seen a statement emanating from any person having any 

 standing among scientific men in which a contrary opinion is advanced. There has 

 recently been a very strong confirmation of my opinion published in England. A 

 bill came before the House of Commons in England, directed against this kind of 

 butter from America, and, after considerable discussion, was defeated by a vote of 

 75 to 59. In the discussion the strongest opponent to legislation against it was 

 Dr. Lyon Playfair, one of the most distinguished chemists and sanitary authori- 

 ties in England. A pupil of Graham and Leibig, he has filled the chairs of chemistry 

 in the Royal Institution of Manchester and at the University of Edinburgh, was ap- 

 pointed chemist to the Museum of Practical Geology by Sir Robert Peel, represented 

 the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Parliament, w r as postmaster-general in 

 the first Gladstone cabinet, has been member of several sanitary commissions, and is 

 now a leading member of Parliament. In his remarks he stated that " bad butter was 

 a fraud upon the poor, and oleomargarine would sooner or later drive it out of the 



