1 Ocr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 427 
The usual percentage of water in our College butters is, from an average 
of several samples taken at various times, 12°5 per cent. 
The fat was determined in the sample dried with pumice-stone in a tin 
capsule, the whole being transferred to a Soxlhet’s extractor and extracted 
with water free ether for four hours. Another sample of the butter was mixed 
with plaster of Paris, a method also recommended, and extracted with ether, 
but gave after treatment of four hours only 76 per cent. of fat. 
The Reichert-W ollny method applied to the pure butter fat obtained from 
above sample of pure butter, and also to artificially made mixtures of this 
butter with margarine, was carried out in accordance to the official method of 
the Society of Public Analysts, as published in the Azalyst, December, 1900, 
and I obtained the following results :— 
Reichert-Wollny 
Figures. Number. 
Pure butter fat... res eo ee PEE 29°40 
Butter, 20 per cent. margarine... ... 22:95 22°50 
Butter, 33°3 per cent. margarine ... Peel SLO. 18°55 
Pure margarine... fs ae x Os 0°80 
Blanks res 0 see os, Ob > Oke) 
Butter fat from cheese... tf; PED S395 29:29 29°30 
The value of the refracting index, with the aid of the Zeiss butyro 
refractometer, was proved by using the instrument for the same sample of 
butter and the mixtures of butter fat with margarine, the butter fat obtained 
from cheese in various ways, extracted by heat and by ether. At the same 
time I tested various oils and fats of standard quality, and give the result of 
the examinations in the following table :—- 
Scale 
Divisions 
at Remarks on the Critic Line. 
40 degrees C. 
Pure butter... x3 ds aeahl Sharp and colourless 
Butter + 20 per cent. mar- 
garine ax 43 se. 4012 Do. do. 
Butter + 33°3 per cent. mar- 
garine ony a ... 46:0 Do. do. 
Pure margarine (Merck’s) ... 49°9 Do. slightly blue 
Butter fat from Cheese— 
Melted out at 60 degreesC. 44°0 Do. and colourless 
Ether extracted ... a. 442 Do. do. 
Cotton-seed oil... os .. 572 Broad band, blue to purple 
Sesame oil +5; xp .. 58:0 Do. do. 
Olive oil “aa ves sn BY Do. blue 
iar canis ss aon oa: ww. O10 Sharp, and slightly blue 
Cocoanut oil... st we 85°83 Band, and slightly reddish 
Palm oil (Elaidin) ... ax BY Do. do. 
Castor oil . ... of xn KUM Broad blue band 
Cod liver oil... eer ae LOD Do. do. 
When using Dr. Wollny’s special thermometer with the refractometer, 
which simplifies the working of the instrument when applied to the testing of 
butter and lard, the following readings were obtained :-— 
Reading of— Difference. 
Thermometer. Telescope. 
Pure butterfat ... tf wee AAT 44-0 
Butter + 20 per cent. margarine 44°5 45:1 
Do. + 33'3percent. margarine 44°45 4.6°0 ee 
Margarine... ve ot wee Ad 49°9 aes 
or 
+++ | 
Th ae ae 
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