The Washington times., 1907-12-06
ON MILK
KNOWS NOTHING
OF CHEMISTRY
Inspector DoeSn't t Know
Constituents of Butter
Fat-Victory for
Dealers.

Surprise was furnished in the POil,e
Court today wnen Inspector Hatton,
who has been analyZing milk at tha
Health Office and prosecuting dairymen
and grocers because their milk and
cream failed 10 come up 10 the stand
ard, admitted that he knew nothing Of
chemistry. and did not know what con
suuted butter fat. The case in which
he was testifying. Griffith 4 Griffith.
for selling cream contaiL,ng less than
% per cent Of butter fat, was dismissed
by Judge Mulowny.
Many milk dealers and grocers were
IN court when the case vas tried, and
expressed themselves rather forcefuuy
because they had paid in many hun
dred5 Of dollars to tae District Golfers
because OF Hatton's pseud0-expert testi-
mony-
Dealers Rather Pleased.
President J. B. Farquhar. OF the Mix
Dealers association, said after the trial:
I'VE have been unjustly treated by tie
public. press. and. particularly. the
Health office, and hope that since It is
an admitted fact that the man who
has been swearing that our milk and
cream was below the standard knows
Nothing Of chemistry ana butter fats,
slrable light"
Secretary Gregor, Of the Retail Gro
GERS Association. was equally pleased.
he said:
We have known ever since this milk
crusade started that the Health OfhEe
was IN the wrong, and the man who
WAS cOuvlcfing dealers right and left
oid not know the first thing ABOUT milk
or cream we are glad % know that
he has been frank enough 10 make that
fact known
Chemistry Not Necessary.
The District Chemist. r. L. Lynch
was not surprised TO learn that AIr
Hatton was not familiar with chemistry
or butter fats He declared "any mar
OF common sense can tell when milk Is
below the standard if he examines Il
after i had set for a number OF hours y
Members OF the GrOcers' and RIilk
Dealers Associations believe HattOn' s
admission of lack OF knowledge about
chemistry and butter fats spells the end
OF the crusade. because the court an
nounced today that Il viii not convict
IN cases where HattOn's testimony
stands unsupported.
Dr.. Woodward Amazed.
DR.. Woodward. head OF the Health
Department OF the District. this morn
ing said that it was beyond his under
standing why the testimony Of Mr..
Hatton had been excluded on the
ground that he was incompetent 10 tes-
tify
1T would appear that man who has
analyzed 1000 and more samples Of
milk and cream" he said, and who
has been trained by two competent
chemists for the performance Of such
work, might well have been offered as
an expert with respect 70 that particu-
lar line OF analytical work In the
present instance. however. Dr. HattOn's
function was merely that OF an ordinary
witness who had full knowledge OF the
results Of certain recognized tests aD-
piled to the cream submitted by the de-
fendaut Under what principle Of law
his testimony was excluded am total
y at a loss to comprehend.
'T have no excuse to offer for the
failure Of tue department to preserve
a portion Of the sample taken in this
instance, under seal, as the law re-
Quires. Due provision has been made
for sealing such samples. and the fail
ure TO seal in the present Instance was
due simply TO negligence in the chem
ical laboratory"