Vol. Il, No. 7.] The Milk and Butter-fat of the Indian Buffalo. 293 
[N.S.] 
38. 
io@) 
Preliminary note on the Chemical Examination of the Milk and 
Butter-fat of the Indian Buffalo.—By E. R. Watson, M.A. 
(Cantab.), B.Sc. (Lond.), Officiating Professor of Chemistry, 
Engineering College, Sibpur. 
The necessity of a careful investigation of these important 
food-substances need scarcely be emphasised. In all countries, 
civilised, in the western sense of the word, it is necessary to care- 
fully supervise the food-supply and to see that it is not deleteri- 
ously adulterated, As a preliminary it is necessary to very care- 
fully analyse wholesome samples of the various food-stuffs in order 
to set up standards for future comparison. The figures which 
have been arrived at in Europe for the composition of the mi 
and butter-fat of the cow cannot be used as standards in India, 
not even for the products of the cow, still less for those of the 
buffalo. This has been clearly shown by the few analyses which 
have been published in India up to the present. (Food Adul- 
teration, J. N. Datta, in Trans, First Indian Medical Congress, 
1894, p. 275; Composition of Indian Cows’ and Buffaloes’ Milk, 
J, W. Leather, in the Agricultural Ledger, No. 19 of 1900, p. 195). 
Pappel and Richmond (Trans. Chem. Soc. 57, p. 752) have 
made an almost exhaustive analysis of the milk and butter-fat of 
investigators. ‘ 
hroughout the present work the following questions have 
been constantly borne in mind: (7) Why is it that buffalo-milk, 
which is richer in fat than cow-milk, commands a lower price in 
the market and is less esteemed as an article of food, and is it 
possible to explain this on chemical grounds; and (#7) is it pos- 
sible to distinguish by chemical analysis between the milk and 
butter-fat of the buffalo and the same articles from the cow. 
has already been investigated to some exte was one 
point, ounces suggested by a perusal of Richmond and Pap- 
pel’s paper, whi peared of the greatest ortan 
