16 



Two causes contribute to this erroneous idea. 



(1) It must be admitted that the milk which is usually obtained 

 from the vendors in this country lends confirmation to this fallacious 

 idea, but it must be remembered that this milk is not the genuine pro- 

 duct of the cow, but a sophisticated article consisting of a more or 

 less judicious mixture of milk and water. 



In places where no analyses of milk have been carried out in the 

 States and Colony and consequently where there is no control or 

 supervision as to the quality of milk sold by the owners or their coolies, 

 the milk is often extremely poor on account of this adulteration. In 

 Penang for instance last year samples analysed by Dr. Rose, the Assis- 

 tant Municipal Health Officer, were found to contain as much as 50 

 per cent of added water and samples analysed in Kuala Lumpor shortly 

 after my arrival in 1906-7 contained added water to almost this 

 extent. 



(2) The absence of colour, so often imagined by consumers to be 

 a criterion of quality, in fact to such an extent that it has led to arti- 

 ficial colouring of both milk and butter in Europe with dyes such as 

 annatto, is the second factor which contributes to this opinion. 



To show how valueless colour is as a standard of quality it is only 

 necessary to study analyses of buffalo milk. Buffalo milk is of a 

 bluish white colour and the fat obtained from this milk is white and 

 produces a white butter and yet many samples contain as much as 8 

 or 9 per cent of fat, and often 9.5 to 10.5 per cent of non-fatty solids. 



My contention is however that the milk of our locally bred cows 

 is equal in quality on the average to that of the British breeds with 

 perhaps the exception of the Jersey cow and this is I think upheld by 

 reference to Tables I-YI. 



In 1906 and 1907 Dr. Thornley and the writer carried out a 

 number of analyses of milks obtained from individual cows and buffa- 

 loes of different dairies in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpor, the samples 

 being collected by a trustworthy man who saw the animals milked. 

 It was hoped to undertake a very large number of such analyses and 

 to publish the results later, when the examinations were made more 

 complete — unfortunately the pressure of other work has prevented a 

 continuation of these analyses, but perhaps the few already carried out 

 will be of interest and will show at any rate that the locally bred 

 cow does not merit the general deprecatory opinion with reference at 

 any rate to the quality of the milk it yields. 



In connection with these analyses I would also like to quote a 

 paper submitted to the Society of Public Analyses by Dr. Leather, 

 Imperial Agricultural Chemist to the Government of India, on " The 

 Composition of Indian Cows' and Buffaloes ' Milks," contained in The 

 Analyst of February 1901. 



His remarks on the milk of Indian cows are as follows : — 



It is found to differ in no essential particulars from that met 

 with in Europe. The relations existing between the specific gravity 

 and solids-non-fat and the fat agree well in all cases with those which 

 Richmond and others have found from English cows, as also does the 



