230 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 375 



a series made for three days on a man and a boy, by Pro- 

 fessor A. Mayer, in Holland.^ In these from 97,7 to 98.4 

 per cent of the fat of the butter, and from 96.1 to 96.3 per 

 cent of the fat of the oleomargarine, were digested. The 

 average difference was 1.6 per cent in favor of the butter. 

 This proportion is so inconsiderable that in healthy persons 

 it is of little or no importance. The slight difference in the 

 chemical nature of the two fats would naturally lead to the 

 same conclusion, as there is always a larger proportion of 

 soluble glycerides in butter than in oleomargarine. 



Dr. R. D. Clark made a series of artificial digestion ex- 

 periments for the New York State Dairy Commission," com- 

 paring oleomargarine with butter and other fats, including 

 beef and mutton suet, and lard, cottonseed, sesame, and cod- 

 liver oils. It was found from these tests that cod-liver oil 

 exhibited the most perfect state of emulsion, after which 

 came genuine butter, then " oleo " and lard oil, there being 

 frequently no appreciative difference between them. The 

 other animal fats and vegetable oils followed. 



For healthy persons the difference between the genuine 

 and artificial butter in digestibility was found to be nearly 

 inappreciable. Cod-liver oil, which is the most readily di- 

 gested of all the fats, cannot always be tolerated by invalids. 



The difference between the digestibility of a piece of cold 

 roast meat and oleomargarine would seem to be in favor of 

 the latter, as the greater part of the more solid fats have 

 been taken out of the latter in the process of manufacture; 

 so that it more readily melts in the mouth and stomach, and 

 from its fine state of division is readily emulsified. 

 Cooking. 



Cooking, as far as animal food is concerned, has the effect 

 of making it more pleasing to the taste, but is unnecessary; 

 whereas with certain vegetables, especially those composed 

 principally of starch, as graio and potatoes, it is required to 

 fit them for use. The proper preparation of food is one that 

 has not received the attention it demands. A badly cooked 

 meal is more apt to disorganize the system than to prove 

 nutritious and beneficial. The general teaching of cookery 

 in our schools, both public and private, to girls would un- 

 doubtedly result in much improvement in this regard. 



There is in boiling and frying foods a very simple problem 

 in physics, which most people ignore; viz., that of latent 

 heat. When a piece of meat, a vegetable, or other article 

 of food, which is at the ordinary temperature, 60° to 75° F., 

 is placed in boiling water or fat, the temperature of the 

 solution is lowered proportionately to the mass and temper- 

 ature of the article introduced; and it is not until the mass 

 has absorbed more heat from the fire that the solution again 

 comes to the boil. If care is taken, either by introducing 

 the food in small quantities at a time into the boiling solu- 

 tion, so that very little lowering of the temperature takes 

 place, or by a preliminary heating of the food before adding 

 it to the solution, and in every case allowing the solution to 

 boil before introducing any fresh material, the soddenness 

 of improperly boiled or fried foods will be avoided. 

 Food-Products and their Chief Adulterants. 



The great majority of substances used for food adulter- 

 ants or substitutes consist of cheap and harmless substances, 

 which are not injurious to health, as the following list of 

 those most commonly met with in the principal food- 

 products will show. This list has been compiled from the 

 reports of the State boards of health, the returns of the 

 British Inland Revenue Department, the reports of the 



1 Landwirthscb. Versuchsstationen, 29, p. 215. 



2 Second Annual Report of the New York State Dairy Commissioner, 



British Local Government Board, and those of the Paris 

 Municipal Laboratory. 



Table VI. — Food-Products and their Chief Adulterants. 



FOOD. PRODUCT. 



Butter. , . , 

 Cheese, .. 

 Olive-oil' 

 Beer 



Sirup 



Honey 



Confectionery. , 



Wines, liquors. 



Vinegar 



Flour, bread 



Baker's chemicals' .. 



Splcps ' 



Cocoa and chocolate. 

 Coffee ' 



Tea 



ADULIEKANTS, 



Water, removal of cream, addition of oleo-oil or 

 lard to skimmed milk. 



Water, salt, foreign fats, artificial coloring-matter. 



Lard, oleo-cil, cououseed-oll. 



Cottonseed and other vegetable oils. 



Artificial glucoee, malt and hop substitute?, sodium 

 bicarbonate, salt, antiseptic?. 



Artificial glucose. 



Artlfii'ial glucose, cane-sugar. 



Artificial glucose, starch, artificial essences, poison- 

 ous pigments, terra alba, gypsum. 



Water, spirits, artificial coloring-matter, flotitioua 

 imitations, aromatic ethers, burnt sugar, anti- 

 septics. 



Water, other mineral or organic acid. 



Other meal,?, alum. 



Starch, alum. 



Flour, starches of various kinds, turmeric. 



Sugar, starch, flour. 



Chiccory, pea?, beans, rye, corn, -wheat, colorlug- 

 matter. 



Exhausted tea leaves, foreign leaves, tannin, indigo, 

 Prussian blue, turmeric, gypsum, soapstone, sand. 



Metallic poisons. 



Salts of copper. 



' For list of adulterated brands see Report of th9 Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue, 1889, pp. 181-184. 



Edgar Richards. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Early this month there will be at the New York Academy 

 of Medicine a joint discussion upon the pneumonias of this win- 

 ter, bj representatives of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. 

 Provost Pepper of the University of Pennsylvania has been 

 appointed to represent Philadelphia. It is hoped that the dis- 

 cussion will lead to some positive conclusions as to the most 

 effective method of dealing with La Grippe. 



— At the meeting, on April 7, of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences, Mr. George F. Kunz presented a paper on a remark- 

 able find of meteorites in Kiowa County, Kan. 



— The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 

 organized in Philadelphia in December last, has met with 

 unexpected success. It has already over three hundred mem- 

 bers, though its working organization is scarcely two months 

 old. Its membership list embraces many of the leading 

 thinkers and workers in the economic and social field in this 

 country and Canada. The first volume of its proceedings will 

 appear early in June. 



— At a meeting of the board of trustees of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, held April 1, 1890, Dr. Hobart Amory Hare was 

 elected clinical professor of the diseases of children, to succeed 

 Dr. Louis Starr, resigned. Dr. Hare is a graduate of the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, 1884. He is a descendant of the dis- 

 tinguished Dr. Robert Hare, one of the early professors of the 

 university. He has done much important original work, is a 

 teacher of remarkable excellence, and, since his graduation in 

 1884, has won eight prizes for various essays, etc. 



— The third national industrial exhibition of Japan opened 

 at Tokio on April 1. and will continue until July 31. The 

 directors of the exhibition have given special facilities for 

 foreigners visiting their country, having made arrangements 

 with railroad and steamboat lines for transportation all over 

 the empire at a considerable reduction from the usual rates. 

 These arrangements have been made by Mr. Iwamura Michi- 

 toshi, vice-president of the exhibition. Special tickets have 

 been issued, entitling the bearer, on his arrival in Japan, to a 

 passport which will enable him to travel through the empire. 

 The exhibition includes a display of Japanese products and 

 manufactures, art works, curios, etc. 



— The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences has issued the report 

 for 1889, which was read at the annual meeting on Jan. 12. 

 The report contains, according to Nature, a valuable analysis of 

 the scientific work done by the members during the year. In 

 mathematics. Professor Tchehyshefi's applications of simple 

 fractions to the investigation of the approximate value of the 



