DAIRY PRODUCTS. 71 



The author gives a table of the analyses of 37 samples of butter and 

 butter substitutes giving the percentage of water, the specific gravity 

 at37.7 C., the melting point determined by the method of Blyth, the 

 milligrams of KOH required in Koettstorfer's method and of cubic centi- 

 meters by Kei chert's method. 1 



The author concludes that the melting point is of no value in discrim- 

 inating between pure and false butters, but the specific gravity, the sa- 

 ponification process, and the distillation of the volatile acid are sufficient 

 to distinguish at once between the true and the false. 



The oleo oil employed had a mean specific gravity at 37.7 C. of 

 0.90369 and its melting point was 27.G 0. The "neutral" had a specific 

 gravity of 0.9053 and a melting point of 38.l C. 



BEHAVIOR OF COCOANUT OIL WITH SOME OF THE METHODS USED IN 

 ANALYSIS OF BUTTER FATS. 



E. W. Moore, in a paper read before the American Chemical Society, 

 September 18, 1885, 2 calls attention to cocoauut oil as a substitute for 

 butter. He gives its fusing point at 24.2 C. to 24.3 C., and calls at- 

 tention to the fact that its specific gravity is higher than that of butter 

 fat. It is also noticed that the insoluble acids in butter fats may 

 sometimes amount to as much as 90 per cent. 3 



The author has found that cocoanut oil yielded 86.43 per cent, insol- 

 uble acids, 4 and thus infers that it could be mixed with other fats and 

 escape detection by this method, calling attention to the fact, however, 

 that if the soluble acids be estimated according to the method of Dupre 5 

 the sophistications might at once appear. 



The low figures obtained are ascribed to the volatility of lauric 

 acid which escapes on drying the insoluble fats. By Koettstorfer's pro- 

 cess the number of milligrams potash necessary to saponify one gram 

 cocoauut oil was found to be 257.3 to 258.3 G the large quantity required 

 being due to the presence of lauric, caproic, capryllic, and capric acids. 

 It is, therefore, possible to mix oleomargarine anil cocoanut oil in such, 

 a manner as to produce results similar to those given by pure butter. 

 This is shown by the following figures : 



1 Op. cit., pp. 31, 62, 63. 



2 Analyst, 1885, p. 224 et seq. 



'Fleisctimann. and Veith, Zeit. Anal. Chem., 1878, p. 287; Kretschmar, Ber. Chem. 

 Gesel., vol. 10, p. 2091 ; Kulesckoff, Wag. Jahresbericht, 1878, p. 999; Jehu, Archiv 

 der Pnarm., vol. 9, p. 335 ; Do la Source, Ibid., vol. 12, p. 929. 



4 Chem. News, vol. 50, p. 268. 



6 Analyst, 1877, pp. 87 and 114. 



Valeuta, Ding, Poly. J., vol. 249, p. 270; Moore, Chem. News, loo. cit. 



