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chemical oil test is shown to contain not more than 

 2-10 of 1 per cent, of butter fat, this may be called good 

 work, although it is quite possible to reduce the loss in 

 the buttermilk to one-half this amount— that is 1-10 of 

 1 per cent. I have proven this much in my own work 

 to my entire satisfaction, and on that this statement is 

 made. I will not attempt to go into the mysteries of 

 the development of the aroma in the ripening cream, 

 for that I believe is clearly beyond human ken, and at 

 the best a matter of speculation. We know that the 

 perfumer who produces the rarest and most delicate 

 perfumes uses several ingredients that are of themselves 

 disagreeable to our sense of smell, yet when carefully 

 blended in proper proportions delight the most sensi- 

 tive olfactories, so that it requires no great stretch of 

 our imagination to suppose that the flavoring acids 

 found in butter, which are of themselves simply dis- 

 gusting, are in some inexplicable way and in such pro- 

 portions released, developed and blended by the action 

 of the lactive ferment, as to produce the much sought 

 for delicate aroma. I know it is claimed for certain 

 European experts that they have discovered the bac- 

 teria that is claimed to produce this delicate flavor, but 

 it is my humble opinion that bacteria are in no sense 

 producers of this aroma, but that simply acting on the 

 substances in the cream they release the flavoring acids 

 in just sufficient proportions that when blended delight 

 the butter expert. Whether they owe their origin to a 

 ferment in the milk itself or are introduced from the 

 air is an undecided question. A famous French chemist 

 has succeeded in extracting from the mammary gland a 

 ferment which possesses the power to convert albumen 

 into casein, certainly quite as extraordinary a result 

 as that the milk should contain a ferment capable of 

 producing lactic acid. 



