336 
butter, or preferably to a standard solution, by means of a@ 
Duboscq colorimeter. A standard color for comparison 
may be prepared by adding a small quantity of any of the 
commercial butter colors to kerosene oil. This standard 
will keep for a long time without changing, if kept from 
the light. 
The scale of the colorimeter on the side which the butter 
solution occupies is always set at fhe same degree, while 
the scale for the other standard is,made variable. The 
reading of this side will therefore vary with the amount of 
color in the sample. 
If some of the kerosene oil in which the butters are dis- 
solved be substituted for the solution of butter, a small 
reading will be obtained which should be deducted from 
that for each of the butters. The numbers remaining are 
directly proportional to the colors of the butters. In the 
butters thus far examined a fair colored J ersey butter was 
taken for a standard and called 100. The others were cal- 
culated to this standard from the scale reading. 
THE DETECTION OF ADULTERATIONS. 
At the present time only those adulterated butters which 
consist wholly or in part of fats derived from other sources 
than milk need to be considered. Adulterations of any 
other nature are rarely met with in this country, and should 
they occur, would be readily detected by simple tests. 
The fats most extensively used for this purpose are neu- 
tral lard and oleomargarine oil. From these, by patented 
processes, are manufactured nearly all of the butterine and 
oleomargarine butters. In addition to the above, cotton- 
seed oil and some other vegetable oils of a similar nature 
are used to a limited extent, but nearly always in connection 
with one of the above fats, which they serve to soften and 
bring more nearly to the consistency of butter. The detec- 
tion of adulterations is therefore practically reduced to tests 
for lard and oleomargarine oil. 
Blythe gives the composition of butter fat as follows : 
Glycerides Equal to Fatty Acids. 
Bes bs ae lee ae Nite labs 4 42.21 = Oleic Acid. 40.40 
Stearin and Palmitin’ .... 50.00 — Stearic and Palmitic Acids, 47.50 
87.90 Total insoluble acids. 
BRryrie s earentes. see, 7.69 = Butyriec Acid, 6.72 
Caproin, t 10— 4) Caproic, 
Caprylin, and Rutinf‘**:  - | Caprylic and Rutie Acids.° tr. 

100.00 = 94.62 Total acids, caleulating- 
soluble as butyric, 
The fats used for butter adulteration are composed prin- 
cipally of olein, stearine, and palmatine, so that the chief 
difference between them and butter is due to the small 
amount of butyrin which the latter contains. 


