Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-06-12
More about Milk-Testing.

GLASS VI WrlJeiS upon udiry quesOiohs' lTuly
against stupidity gods and men contend il
vain" A little instrument has been uset
for the last twenty years by milk-dealers ant
cheese-factory men to test the specific gray
ity of the milk they buy or manufacture
They have long ago learned that ligh
milk is a poor, and presumably an adulter
ated milk and this little instrument (tht
"lactometer y will, when properly used, dis
close undue lightness at a glance. For this
purpose, and for this purpose alone, it i:
ever used. 1t will not tell anything else
as the gallon measure will tell how many
quarts of milk are received, just as the
scales will show how much cheese or butter
is made from it., so does the lactometer cor
rectly reveal how much heavier the milk is
than water. It will not tell whether the
milk has been sailed or skinned, or has had
soda or chalk added to it. Like the gallon
measure, or the scales, it has its one duty to
perform, and performs it. 1t will neither
tell the time of day nor inform you of the
color of your sweetheart's hair. Nor will
the scales, nor the gallon measure. Yet a
paper with the pretensions of the Boston
CultiUdtOr informs its readers that although
the lactometer has gained large degree of
popularity in certain quarters, and by many
has been implicitly trusted, yet it is a most
Enthusiastically instrument In fact, there
hardly ever was an instrument which has so
utterly failed as the lactometer. 1t con-
POUNDS together milk which is exceptionally
rich with milk which has been largely wa
tered Its use in France has been such that
many poor French peasant, bringing the
best and unadulterated produce of his dairy
into French town, has been ruthlessly stop
ped by the police, who having dipped their
lactometer into the milk, frequently turn it
into the gutter, as if it had been milk and
water. In our large American towns, where
the cream is removed from country milk and
water added, the lactometer is esteemed a
friend of the milkman, since it does not
record his fraud"
Now little paraphrasing of this intell-
gent piece of criticism will reveal its alb
surdity to the most cursory eye. Suppose
we should say that " although the standard
gallon measure has gained large popularity
in certain quarters, and by many has been
implicitly trusted, yet it is a most untrust-
worthy instrument. In fact, there hardly
ever was an instrument which has so ut
terly failed as the gallon measure. 1t con-
Pounds together milk which is exceptionally
rich with that which has been largely
watered. In our large American
towns, where the cream is removed from
country milk and water added the gallon
measure is esteemed a friend of the milk
man, since it does not record the fraud"
1t may be added that Fairbanks scales are
equally Enthusiastically, since, while they tell
you the exact weight of the butter or cheese
that you buy, they will not tell you if the
first is gilt-edged Jersey or oleomargarine,
nor if the latter be Mason's best Young
America or the poorest Ohio skim.
The lactometer is a glass instrument made
TO swim in milk, and within its stem is a
graduated scale similar to that of Their
mometer. Floating in water this scale
stands at 0; in good average milk of the
temperature of coo it stands at 90 This 20
indicates specific gravity of 1882 (water
being 10000 and experience has shown this
to be almost exactly the average gravity of
the milk of healthy and properly fed COWS.
Take the milk of dozen such COWS, pour it
together and cool it TO 60o, and it will not
vary more than degree from 90 on the lac
tometer. This we have tested hundreds of
times. The milk of single cows will vary
more though rarely more than two degrees,
if the temperature is kept at 600. Now
take some of this milk and add to a quart
of it quart of water; then place the lac.
tometer in it and you will see it stand at 10
If you had taken three quarts of milk and
added quart of water the instrument would
have stood at 10, and so of every other pro
portion of water adulteration. This is the
result with pure milk from properly fed
cows, and is the result EVERY TIME, where
the milk of several COWS is mixed together
The result will be nearly though not pre-
cisely the same with any single cows milb
from the same herd.
But let us take herd of COWS and feed
them with distillery or brewery slop. Take
some of this and test it by the lactometer
and it will show lightness the instru
ment will stand at II, or perhaps as low as
10. The lactometer does not show, in
the first case, that water was added MOI
does it show in the second case, that swil
was fed instead of grass, hay, or grain
But it shows every time that the milk i.
light and poor. This is all it can show, all
it was made to show, and all that was evel
claimed that it could show. Now, in France
the law requires that the milk shall not bt
light and poor, but shall be of the specif,
gravity of pure whole milk. If not it i,
turned into the gutter by the inspectors
That is the law, and it is a good law, ant
ensures to the citizens good milk.
But is it fact that under this law, ant
by this method of inspection, the best an,
unadulterated product of the French dairie
is turned into the gutter, as the Cultiuato
asserts We do not hesitate to declare tina
the assertion is utterly untrue. The lac
tometer test alone will pass skim-milk, O
slrim-milk very slightly adulterated will
water, or still more adulterated with sal
and water. The removal of the cream raise
the weight of milk about degree, or a de
gree and half, of the lactometer, and thi
may be counterbalanced by adding five O
six per cent. of water. If the water i
sailed, thus raising its specific gravity
little, trihe more can be added but it /
plain that much salt cannot be put in with
out betraying itself in the taste of the milk
The lactometer cannot detect skimmin
with slight addition of water, as mer
toned above. So by the lactometer tes
alone, the French inspectors might pass
great deal of skirn-milk. But they do mo-
because they understand their business, an
knnv what the laetofn atar can and .o,..