254 
coal-tar dyes are reported. The summary of the chemical data shoAV 
the total number of samples analyzed to be 228. Judged by the stand- 
ard of 14 per cent for the ice creams of the vanilla type and 12 per 
cent of fat for the ice creams of the fruit t}^pe, it is found that there 
are at or above standard llT samples, or 51.32 per cent, and below 
standard 111 samples, or 48.68 per cent. The average percentage of 
fat in the entire 228 samples is 12.67. Only 46, or 20.18 per cent of 
Ihe whole number of samples, contain less than 10 per cent of fat, and 
only 25, or 10.97 per cent, contain less than 8 per cent. 
The total number of samples containing a thickener was 80, or 35.18 
per cent. In 33 samples, or 14.47 per cent, the thickener is gelatin, 
while in 47 samples, or 20.61 per cent, the thickener is a vegetable gum 
or starch. Only 2 samples are found to contain coal-tar dye. 
These samples were purchased at random from all the principal ice 
cream makers in Washington, over a period extending from about 
April 1 to August 1, 1907. 
The data are most interesting in view of the contention that the 
standard suggested for butter fat is too high, and especially in view 
of the fact that 8 per cent has been suggested by many as a proper 
standard. The chemical examination shows how devoid of commer- 
cial significance are both of the claims mentioned. Another interest- 
ing fact is that the percentage of samples containing gelatin is 
extremely small. This is of great significance as being a most 
emphatic negative answer to the contention that gelatin is necessary 
to the manufacture of ice cream, or is generally employed. The 
chemical data on the whole give no support to the contention that the 
suggested standard for ice cream is unfair. The absence of eggs, 
gelatin, starch, and other substances, which it has been said are com- 
monly used in the manufacture of ice cream, from the great majority 
of the samples is another point of great significance. In fact, the data 
show most conclusively that the term ice cream, even from a commer- 
cial point of view, is applied to a substance containing more than 14 
per cent of fat in more than 51 per cent of all the samples examined. 
It is, therefore, commercially as well as scientifically and hygienically, 
a term which should be applied to a substance of standard com]3osi- 
tion and that standard, in so far as Washington is concerned, could 
be reached with but little variation from the usual methods of pro- 
ducing ice cream. What is true of Washington certainly should be 
true of other cities, since there is no indication that the quality of the 
creams made in Washington is any better than that of other cities. 
The only conclusion which can be derived from the study of these 
chemical data is that the term ice cream should apply generally, as 
it does in the majority of cases at the present time as indicated by 
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