18 ANALYSIS AND ADULTERATIONS OP BUTTER. 



in such, a case frequently helps to clench together the 

 whole superstructure, and thus certainty is made doubly 

 sure. 



It has been asserted, with astonishing pertinacity, that the 

 globules composing the fat in milk may distinctly be seen by 

 the aid of the microscope in genuine butters, while " crystal- 

 line arborigations noticeable among the globules of fat will 

 give undeniable testimony to the proportion of foreign in- 

 gredients fraudulently introduced." Now, the truth is, that 

 the oil globules of the milk are broken up and beaten into a 

 mass during the process of churning. Some few globules 

 may escape destruction, but to found upon their number or 

 their absence a test for the genuineness of butter is utterly 

 absurd. Crystals are merely an indication that fusion has 

 taken place, whether of the butter or of any added fat. 



It must also be remembered, that in some butter-making 

 districts, particularly in Devonshire, it is a common practice 

 to scald the cream before churning it into butter, and in cold 

 weather the temperature of the churn is raised by rinsing it 

 out with boiling water. These proceedings would, in most 

 cases, give rise to a crystalline appearance of the resulting 

 butter. 



The microscope is, however, capable of furnishing evidence 

 of other adulterations of butter, which sometimes, though 

 rarely, occur. Thus starch, ground or mashed potatoes, 

 have been known to be used as adulterants, especially on 

 the Continent, the presence of which would at once become 

 evident by microscopical examination. Animal membrane, 

 adipose cells derived from dripping, vegetable fibres intro- 

 duced by foreign ingredients, would point out the presence of 

 adulterating substances ; they have all from time to time been 

 met with. The relations existing between the microscopic 

 appearance, and the results obtained by chemical analysis, 

 may be seen in several cases by reference to table, page 19. 



