378 
NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 
Oleomargarine . — A controversy lias been recently raging at New 
York in regard to the qualities of this substance, between Mr. John 
Michels and some correspondents of the ‘ New York Times.’ In an 
article in the ‘ American Journal of Microscopy,’ for October, Mr. 
Michels writes : — 
“ Having observed paragraphs in various medical and scientific 
journals, stating that oleomargarine could not be distinguished by the 
microscope from butter, and suggesting various chemical methods to 
meet the difficulty, I was prompted to purchase samples of these sub- 
stances, and make a careful microscopical examination of them. 
The result of my examination was very decisive, and just what I 
expected ; namely, that the oleomargarine was loaded with free stellate 
or feathery crystals, and that the butter presented the uniform appear- 
ance of fat-globules so often described in handbooks, and perfectly 
free from any crystalline forms except those of chloride of sodium or 
common salt. 
I examined a large number of samples under different tempera- 
tures, and under a variety of conditions, but the results here shown * 
are from two samples examined just as they were purchased, pressed 
out to a fine film in the usual manner, under a thin cover, and 
examined with a four-tenth objective by Beck. 
During some months I always found the same results, but dis- 
covered that by a trick and by manipulating the samples, the butter 
could be made to show a field full of crystals, and the oleomargarine 
free from them ; but examine true samples of either in their normal 
condition, and the results I have shown will always be observed. 
As I have stated, my examination of oleomargarine extended over 
some months, during which period I invariably found that each 
sample contained cells of a very suspicious character, with fragments 
of tissue and muscle. This led me to investigate the process of 
manufacture, and I then found that during the whole process from 
first to last, the animal fat, &c., of which this substance is made, is 
never subjected to a higher temj)erature than 120° F. 
It at once occurred to me, that taking into account the well- 
known thermal death-point of certain organisms frequently found in 
animals, which, although diseased, are regarded by dealers as fit for 
food, such a temperature of 120 ° F. was totally insufficient to destroy 
the germs of even the adult individuals of such forms of life. 
Again, the original French patent states that the stomachs of two 
pigs or sheep should be chopped up with a certain amount of fat, on 
account of the pepsine there contained, and I found that this practice 
was in use in the New York oleomargarine manufactories. For these 
reasons I conclude that oleomargarine thus manufactured is not a safe 
or wholesome article of food, and I assert that, however disguised it 
may be in appearance, oleomargarine as offered for sale, is nothing 
but raw fat, liquefied, scented, coloured and flavoured to give it a 
spurious appearance of butter, and that those who use it run the risk 
of trichinsB, from the stomachs of pigs chopped up with the fat, and 
* Two woodcuts — one showing the usual appearance of fat-globules, the 
other stellate or feathery crystals. 
