Page:Pure milk - a lecture delivered in the lecture room of the exhibition, July 30th, 1884 (IA b28525140).pdf/10

 the standard. The most notorious case of this kind is the old case of the cows at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, which Dr. Voelcker admits were half starved, and I certainly cannot admit that milk produced by such animals as this has any right whatever to be classed in the category of pure milk.

Setting aside these two leading arguments against the standard set up, there is very little indeed to say against my argument, that pure milk should not merely be the produce of the cow, but should be the produce of the cow in a healthy condition and reasonably well fed. Granting, then, that this definition be accepted, in the first instance, we have to consider whether it is capable of being formulated in a more distinct way, so that, for instance, it would be possible for the milkman or analyst, by examining the milk, to say whether the liquid fulfils the conditions I have laid down; and here I am compelled at once to say No, it would not be possible; but the utmost that could be done by science and practical knowledge combined is that a certain limit may be laid down below which pure milk will not fall unless under circumstances of a most exceptional character. This limit is in practical use, and is adopted by a very large number of public analysts throughout the kingdom.

I pass now to consider the different constituents of milk, that is the various different parts into which it can be approximately divided, and into some of which, as a matter of fact, it is divided in the various processes of cream, butter, curd, and cheese making. These different constituents are Water, Fat, Caseine, Albumen, Sugar, and Salts, &c.; and for convenience of demonstrating the fact clearly, I have arranged on the table before me a series of bottles (which Messrs. Welford and Sons, who have the large Dairy in the Southern Gallery, have kindly placed at my disposal), that you may see the proportions of each of these ingredients contained in one gallon of milk. Here, for instance, we have the Water contained in one gallon of milk, which amounts to 81bs. 7oz., and each of the other constituents in