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 o 
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 J VI. 
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 earned out 
will be of interest and will show at any rate that the locally bied 
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 He 
Composition of Indian Cows’ and Buffaloes Milks, contained m I he 
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 
