456 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. li 



But Science says, ' at first.' Am I to understand by 

 the words ' at first ' that when I, for the first time, 

 announced publicly that I could detect oleomargarine, 

 it was owing to my discovery of the globose crystals 

 of butter showing the Saint Andrew's cross ? If 

 such is the meaning intended, nothing could be more 

 erroneous. I did not discover the Saint Andrew's 

 cross until May, 1884, while the record shows that 

 from July, 1879. until May, 1884, I was determining 

 between butter and oleomargarine by the simple 

 method described. Other helps were sometimes em- 

 ployed, such as testing by acids, boiling to get the 

 odor of butter or other fats, etc.; but I have always 

 considered the presence of highly developed fatty 

 crystals in the material conclusive evidence that the 

 substance is oleomargarine. 



In a communication to Hitchcock and Wall's 

 Quarterly microscopical journal (vol. ii. July, 1879), 

 published in New York, I set forth, among other 

 statements about butter and oleomargarine, that I 

 was able to detect the latter, owing to particles of 

 cellular tissue, microscopic blood-vessels, and stellar 

 crystals of fat found in it. This paper is illustrated 

 with several cuts, exhibiting respectively the stellar 

 crystals and portions of adipose tissue. 



In a bulletin of the microscopical division of the 

 department of agriculture, published in 1884, by 

 direction of Commissioner George B. Loring, a paper 

 of mine appears, with six chromo-lithographic illus- 

 trations, two of which relate to the detection of 

 oleomargarine, and show the stellated crystals of lard 

 as seen under the microscope. On p. 6, same bulle- 

 tin, the following appears : *' Aware of the fact that 

 all artificial butter was made directly from crystal- 

 lized fats, I devised a method by which it could be 

 distinguished from true butter. ... To carry out 

 this plan, I used the low powers of the microscope 

 with Nicols prisms. In this way I found that I had 

 a method of detecting the crystals, whether in per- 

 fect starry form or as fragments of these forms, ex- 

 hibiting ail the colors of the rainbow." 



In public debate at the late meeting of the Ameri- 

 can society of microscopists, at Chautauqua, N.Y., I 

 said that all the convictions obtained in the courts 

 of Washington, D.C., on my evidence, had been 

 founded on my detection of lard or beef-fat in the 

 fatty compounds sold as butter. Thus, first and last, 

 my most important test has been the detection of 

 crystals of foreign fats in butter substitutes sold as 

 pure butter. 



On p. 284, Science observes further : "Prof. H. 

 H. Weber, however, upon testing the method de- 

 scribed by Dr. Taylor, found, that, although the so- 

 called butter crystals could be readily piepared from 

 butter, they could be as readily prepared from beef- 

 fat, or mixtures of beef-fat and lard, under like con- 

 ditions." Answer : According to Professor Weber's 

 own statement (see bulletin 13 of the Ohio experi- 

 ment station), he did not use beef-fat, but a substance 

 known to the trade as ' oleo,' said to be a manufac- 

 tured product, containing a much smaller proportion 

 of stearine and palmatine than does beef-fat, and 

 made purposely by oleomargarine manufacturers to 

 resemble butter as nearly as possible in its chemical 

 composition. The professor triturated this butter- 

 like substance with salt and water, boiled it, and 

 when it was cooled discovered that it formed into 

 globose bodies showing a cross ; and he says that the 

 crystal thus formed cannot be distinguished from 

 that of pure butter. In this the professor is greatly 



mistaken. When ' oleo ' crystals are observed under 

 a half-inch objective, they can at once be distin- 

 guished from butter by their highly spinous character. 

 But, I ask, what bearing has this experiment upon 

 the question of my method of detecting oleomarga- 

 rine ? since crystals resembling those of boiled butter 

 are never found in oleomargarine or butterine as 

 sold. 



Science further says (second paragraph) : " After 

 the publication of these results, the ' butter crystal "^ 

 and its Saint Andrew's cross were relegated to a 

 subordinate position." Answer : The Saint Andrew's 

 cross of butter has never been and cannot be ' rele- 

 gated' from its original position, viz., that of a con- 

 stant factor of the globose butter crystal ; nor can 

 it be used as a means of detecting crystals of lard or 

 of beef-fat in oleomargarine. Pure unboiled butter 

 never exhibits either globose or stellar crystals, while 

 oleomargarine and butterine, as sold, show the crys- 

 tals of fats foreign to butter. Science says further : 

 " Dr. Taylor insisted that his most important test has 

 been neglected, viz., the appearance of the unboiled 

 material under polarized light with selenite plate. 

 According to Dr. Taylor, butter shows a uniform 

 tint, while lard and tallow show prismatic colors." 

 Answer : The assertion that the above is my most 

 important test is found nowhere in my writings. In 

 my open letter to Professor Sturtevant of the New 

 York experiment station (March 21, 1886), I say ^ 

 " The crystals of lard or of tallow generally ob- 

 served in great numbers are easily distinguished 

 from the mass of amorphous fats with which they 

 are combined. This is one of my most important 

 tests of oleomargarine and butterine." My asser- 

 tion, * This is one of my most important tests,' is 

 thus made the foundation of a statement that some- 

 thing else is my most important test. In my publica- 

 tions relating to the detection of oleomargarine, from 

 1879 to the present time, I have reiterated the neces- 

 sity of finding in the suspected material crystals of 

 foreign fats in order to prove beyond a doubt its 

 spurious character. Science further says : *' Her© 

 again, however, he [Dr. Taylor] has been pursued by 

 Professor Weber, who shows that either butter-fat or 

 lard or tallow, when cooled quickly, will show a uni- 

 form tint, while if cooled slowly, so as to admit of 

 the formation of larger crystals, prismatic tints are 

 shown by both. Since imitation butter is . . . liable 

 to undergo sufficient changes of temperature after 

 manufacture to allow of a partial re-crystallization, 

 the test is plainly fallacious." As regards the first 

 sentence of the above quotation, it may be stated 

 that large crystals of butter can never be found in 

 unboiled oleomargarine, from the very nature of its 

 manufacture, since the only butter it contains is de- 

 rived from the milk with which it is churned. In 

 the manufacture of butterine, however, butter^ 

 melted at the lowest possible temperature, is added, 

 to liquid ' oleo ' and ' neutral lard ' and churned. 

 Even in this case the butter does not crystallize. 

 Were the butter melted at a high temperature, its 

 odor and taste would be objectionable ; it would also 

 crystallize in large globose forms, giving the butter- 

 ine the granular appearance of lard, which would 

 render it unsalable. 



In the latter sentence of the above quotation^ 

 Science acknowledges that imitation butter is liable 

 to undergo sufficient changes of temperature after 

 manufacture to allow of a partial re-crystallization. 

 For years past I have been endeavoring to convince 



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