AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 24'3 



in December 1854, from cows on stall food, when it reached 27| 

 ounces from IG quarts of milk. 



CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PRODUCTION OF MILK. 



Professor Way consulting chemist to the society, delivered a 

 lecture on the subject. We extract the following, (viz :) " The 

 milk of an animal is intended to form the sole food of its young 

 for a period.'' 



Prof. Way called attention to the great and fundamental doc- 

 trine from whence all our reasoning on the subject of animal nu- 

 trition now started, namely, the identity or almost identity of the 

 principles of vegetable and animal body. The conclusion founded 

 upon this identity, was that with slight modifications, the vege- 

 table principles were assimilated by the animal frame; the albu- 

 minous being converted into flesh and muscle, the oily ingredi- 

 ents into fat, and the mineral salts into bone and other solid 

 parts. 



Prof. Way adverted to the process for preparing and preserving 

 butter. Cream is supposed to rise best from the milk when all 

 is perfectly still; but he seemed to think that a combined gentle 

 centrifugal and ascending motion of the fluid might help the 

 rising of the cream. Such a motion may be given by slowly ro- 

 tating tables, the sides of the pans having flanges on the inside 

 sloping from top to bottom, which would communicate an ascen- 

 sional motion to the liquid. Cream although sweet when put 

 into the churn, becomes soured by the churning ; this result was 

 due to the absorption of oxygen by the casein and the conversion 

 (under its influence), of the milk sugar into lactic acid. He 

 thought that adding lactic or acetic acid to the cream before 

 churning and then churning free as much as possible from air. 

 There is no reasonable doubt that the small quantity of altered 

 casein was the insidious enemy to long keeping of butter. Salt- 

 ing of butter was a delicate point. A machine has been invented 

 in the United States, for butter curing, (viz :) The butter inclosed 

 in an endless bag, was drawn between grooved rollers, immersed 

 in a vessel of water, the salt being added by a hopper. He thought 

 that a machine somewhat like Clayton's screening cylinder with a 

 disk perforated through wiiich the butter is forced like vermicelli, 

 salted — pistons to force the butter in this way backwards and for 

 wards, and in the mean time air exhausted from it. Prof. Way 

 believed that butter so preserved would keep any length of time. 

 From the report of the condition of the Rojal Agricultural 



