A UNIFORM RENNET. 199 



this question thoroughly, and he says : " Let us have an average 

 rennet. Let us take the stomachs of a hundred thousand calves 

 and subject them to a process of gradual desiccation, and purify 

 them in a current of clean water, without soaking them, so as 

 to soak out the strength of the rennet, and get a clean article, 

 instead of the dirty, ill-prepared rennet we too often see." I 

 am not, of course, making any remarks here in regard to what 

 gentlemen present are doing. They may be very careful ; and 

 if they are careful, and adopt the process that Gale Borden 

 recommends, they can secure a uniform rennet. But I have 

 Been a good many rennets, in this country as well as in England, 

 and I know that in the majority of instances the rennet is very 

 improperly prepared. 



Well, Gale Borden collects his rennets, (the more he can get 

 the more uniform the result,) and then dries them at a low tem- 

 perature, (I believe he does it in vacvo,^ and he desiccates them, 

 BO that not a particle of putrescible matter remains. After he 

 has dried these rennets, he chops them fine, powders them, 

 mixes them all up, and he has a uniform rennet. You have 

 nothing to do but to take a spoonful of this rennet, or a given 

 quantity, and you know that you have a standard rennet, which 

 is, I believe, one of the great means of insuring to cheese- 

 makers success in their operations. 



I only wish that I knew more about Gale Borden's discoveries 

 in this particular, but it will suffice for me to direct your atten- 

 tion to the labors of a man as distinguished as he is in the prac- 

 tical applications of science — a man who, you know, has intro- 

 duced a system of condensing milk for large cities, which I can 

 myself declare to be a very great improvement. "When I re- 

 member the condition of the supplies in our own cities in Eng- 

 land, and the great difficulty there is in securing for children 

 anything that is decent to take, I can see that Gale Borden's 

 invention with regard to the condensation of milk should be 

 known through the whole length and breadth of the world. 

 While on this subject of cheese-making, if I just draw your 

 attention to the work he is doing, I am sure I am doing a good 

 service. 



Before sitting down, I wish to allude to Dr. Potter's method 

 of bringing milk down to any desired temperature properly and 

 rapidly. Dr. Potter has a tin conical vessel, grooved on the in- 



