The New York herald., 1876-12-27
THE MILK INQUISITION.

Great interest seemed to be attached to the proceed
ngs yesterday n the Court of General Sessions, Part
. before Judge Sutherland from the fact that in tho
OF Daniel schrumpf who is now undergoing his
trial on the indictment charging him with selling
adueratcd milk, the distinguished chemist, Professor
r. Ogden Doremus, was 10 give his opinion as an ex-
pert the value OF the acomcter used by the Board
Of Health. After a brief cross examination OF DR..
Thomas C. Doremus. the witness stand was occupied
by the Professor who, in response to Mr. Lawrence,
OF counsel for the defence, referred to experience
as a chemist The questions PROFOUND IN this
spect elected the fact, already well known, that the
Professors scientist had been successful Ho
testified that he mad made the subject OF milk a
speciality and lecturcd the subject since $780, and
then went on state that he visited Orange county
number OF times Tor the purpose OF examining milk to
determine its gravity by the Iactometor. Tho exami-
nations which he made demonstrated the fact that the
lactometer not proper indication OF The value OF
milk, as it registered higher quality OF milk when
placed In the skim milk than it did when ncrsed in
milk which was rich and creamy He said that there
wero two substances in milk lighter than tho milk
iiseii-namely, water ard cream-and IL is this
that will eventually damn the lactomcier He added
that npo. bic to discover, with the lacomser
whether it cream water lishtened the milk and
dened any Of the learned chemists who were examined
behalf oil the prosecution last week 10 say that
they, with the actometcr could discover whether IL
cream water which ngh,encd tho milk, as it
fluid. This he said would demonstrate the iasity oil
the lactomctcr, for milk may be light owing 10 Its
goodness Under oil the circumstances, the Professor
OF the opinion that the iactomctsr was
not reliable rs test The testimony of Dr. Dorcnus
very interesting, especially alter recess, when he
illustrated by experiment very simple method OF
testing milk by means OF evaporation lie
assisted by his son, DIR. T. c. Dorcuhs He showed
that by previously weighing, Tor instance, table,
spoon iul OF mik, little dish which contained 1t
also being weighed, the loss when heated would be tho
water he then explained ho~ all the component
method OF testing milk was not only simple but COM
petc The witness cited various authorities IN sup
purl OF h,s opinion that tho lactomcier dctccter
of sduteraiion IN milk was not reiiable II may be
mentioned, however, that the case having ready
occupied so many days Judge Suth herald seemed
ANXIOUS keep within the bounds OF the inquiry
namely, whether the prisoner at the psr
tho ordinance of the Board OF Health. II
repeatedly argued by the counsel Tor the defence
tion OF fraudulent milk and that II was competent to
prove that fact hence the opinion OF DR. Doremus as
an expert was extremely valuable ~ case OF ms
kind contradistnction to tie evidence Of the wit
nesses who had testified as 10 is efficiency In the
OF his testimony Dr. Doremus referred 10 SOW
eral authorities who, lie sad, had condemned ihc IN
strument on the ground OF its unreabilty. He fur
ther stated that no deduction could safely be drawn
as to the dulteraton OF milk by from the
ner IN which the milk from The lactometer when
taken out Hc had seen samples OF mix
lactometer in manner similar TO that de-
ecriped characteristic Of aduitera;ed milk In
response TO the inquiry as 10 whether he had made
the tests IN this Case previously made by Dr. White,
that would be willing testify that the fluid tested
adultcrated m the Court ruled out The question
Professor porenus then detailed al length the causes
that might tend vary the specific gravity OF ms.
Water and cream make II lighter already inttmatcd,
while cheese and salt reversed this condition.
He considered the laciomcter most erroneous GUIDE,
go far the question OF detecting adulteraton was
and opinion that the best method to
determine whether milk was pure impure was by
analys SIS In support OF his saicmcnt that the lac
tometcr was unreliable as test Dr. Doremus read ses-
eral from foreign authors He was then cross
examined by Mr. Prentice, but the Professor NAM
tancd his Characteristic serenity IN presence OF his
legal assailaDt anu his direct testimony not dis
turbed The further hearing oi the adjourned
until this morning.