310 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1446 



extensive investigaitions to determine if it is 

 desirable to use any material for eliminating 

 the upper meniscus on the neck of the Babeock 

 testing bottles and after a very extensive ex- 

 periment, came to the conclusion that for uni- 

 form and accurate results of the cream test, 

 the meniscus must be eliminated. The reason 

 for this conclusion was that the color of the 

 test, clearness of fat, amount and direction of 

 light, kind of background of the test bottle, 

 angle from which the test is read, etc., gives a 

 varying meniscus. 



A number of experiments were tried out at 

 this station as well as at other experiment sta- 

 tions about this time with different liquids for 

 eliminating the meniscus. Amylaleohol was 

 one of the materials experimented with at this 

 time, but it was found that its fat dissolving 

 properties and the harmful effect of the vapor 

 on the operator made it impracticable for com- 

 mercial use. 



Glymol, which is a white mineral oil, was 

 found not to have the objection of the amyl- 

 aleohol and at the same time eliminated the 

 meniscus which made an accurate test so diffi- 

 cult. The use of glymol is now being used 

 in practically every state of the Union and its 

 value has been thoroughly proved. The 

 authors of the above mentioned article, while 

 they condemn the use of glymol, make the fol- 

 lowing statement, "If the latter is added slowly 

 and carefully, little or no error occurs." This 

 kind of criticism may be made of any test, but 

 from our inspection of over 1,800 cream buy- 

 ing stations in Indiana, this last year, in our 

 Creamery License Division, we have found at 

 least 98 per cent, of the testers adding the 

 glymol as it should be added and where the 

 testers fail to comply with the creamery and 

 testers' license law or perform tests that are 

 inaccurate, their license is revoked. In cases 

 whei-e licenses were revoked this last year, our 

 investigations show very conclusively that the 

 incorrect testing was due to intent in prac- 

 tically every case, rather than by faulty meth- 

 ods of testing. In the last sentence of this 

 article, the authors say: "It is conclusively 

 shown that 'the methods (referring to the use 

 of glymol) is not safe in the hands of the aver- 

 age daii-y testers, but the use of amylaleohol 



for this purpose, substituted for hydrocarbon 

 oils, gives reliable results in all cases." A few 

 tests are sufficient to show that this statement 

 is erroneous. Six samples of cream were used 

 and the test read by adding amylaleohol. The 

 tests were read as soon as the amylaleohol was 

 placed on the test and the six tests averaged 

 22.2 per cent. After standing ten minutes, 

 the six tests averaged 21.5 per cent, showing 

 very conclusively that the amylaleohol dissolves 

 a portion of the fat and does not give reliable 

 results. 



As chairman of the Creamery License Divi- 

 sion Board of Indiana, a board which has for 

 its purpose the enforcement of the Indiana 

 testers' license law and the protection of the 

 producer against fraudulent or incorrect tests 

 of milk and cream, I am very anxious to re- 

 ceive all constructive criticisms of our present 

 methods of testing, but under our present 

 methods of checking the cream buying stations 

 in Indiana, it is a most erroneous statement to 

 intimate that ten large creameries in Indiana 

 are beating the producers out of $20,000 worth 

 of cream per year, and any one who is con- 

 nected with the business and knows conditions 

 in the state would not make such a statement, 

 for it would be impossible under the Indiana 

 creamery and testers' license law. The state- 

 ments which 'the investigators have made in the 

 article referred to are not only incorrect truths, 

 but the damage which may result from the 

 distribution of such an article is unlimited. 



H. W. Geegoet 



Purdue University 



DR. LIPMANN'S LABORATORY OF APPLIED 

 PSYCHOLOGY 



Lettehs from Dr. Otto Lipmann, of Berlin, 

 state that he is confronted with the necessity 

 of giving up his scientilic work unless he finds 

 funds which will allow him to keep on with his 

 laboratory of applied psychology. From the 

 Emergency Society for German and Austrian 

 Science and Art, I have received word that 

 $200 will be voted by it provided that Amer- 

 ican psychologists will pledge' an equal amount. 

 A similar arrangement has been carried out by 

 groups in two other fields. 



At the suggestion of President Knight Dun- 



