40 THE MILK QUESTION 



to remove the fat in excess of this low percentage. A mixed 

 milk may contain 4.5 per cent of butter-fat. The law, we 

 will say, requires only 3.25 per cent. The dairyman can 

 therefore, with little chance of discovery, remove about 

 1 per cent of the butter-fat. This is all "velvet." Such 

 practices should not be countenanced; they can best be 

 guarded against by a careful system of inspection, supple- 

 mented by laboratory tests by which the partial skimming 

 or "running" of milk may be detected. 



The researches of Htibner, Keller, and Czerny show that 

 the fats are more often the cause of much of the digestive 

 disturbances in infants than the proteins. When the fat is 

 excessive in amount the infant at first seems to thrive, but 

 sooner or later loses weight and appetite and shows other 

 symptoms of ill-health. At the same time the stools be- 

 come a pale gray, hard and dry in consistency, and are 

 composed largely of fatty soaps. The alkaline bases, 

 which are deficient in cow's milk, are largely drawn from the 

 body to saponify the excessive amount of fat in the intes-^ 

 tines : a condition resembling acidosis may then appear. As 

 a result of the deranged digestion, fermentation takes place 

 in the intestines and the so-called catastrophe ensues. 

 Many cases of summer complaint in children have been 

 traced to an excessive amount of fat in the milk. There is 

 a great temptation, both on the part of physicians and 

 mothers, to increase the amount of butter-fat in the food 

 in order to fatten their babies, but this practice is fraught 

 with danger. 



No discussion of fat in milk is complete without an ac- 

 knowledgment to Professor S. M. Babcock, who, in 1890, 

 discovered a ready method for estimating the amount of 

 butter-fat in milk. This test, known as the "Babcock 

 Test," is now used the world over. Babcock gave his know- 

 ledge free to the world. In 1901 the State Legislature of 

 Wisconsin recognized his service by conferring upon him a 

 bronze medal. 



