, PERT.
f> Dept.
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
MEGE DISCOVERY.
MICROSCOPICALLY AND CHEMICALLY ANALYZED BY THE MOST SKILLFUL
AND DISTINGUISHED SCIENTISTS,
DEMONSTRATING ITS PURITY.
Award of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE, and Opinions of PROF. C. F. CHANDLER, President of
the New York Board of Health ; PROF. GEORGE F. BARKER, of the University of Penn-
sylvania ; DR. HENRY A. MOTT. JR., of New York; PROF. S. C. CALDWELL, of Cor-
nell University; PROF. S. W. JOHNSON, of Yale College; PROF. C. A. GOESSMANN,<?/
the Massachusetts Agricultural College ; PROF. HENRY MORTON, of the Stevens
Institute of Technology, of Hoboken ; DR CHARLES P. WILLIAMS, of
Pliiladelphia ; PKOF. ATWATER, of the IVesleyan University,
and PROF. ARNOLD, of the University of New York.
NEW YORK:
Commercial Manufacturing Company Consolidated,
48TH STREET AND NORTH RIVER.
FRfrJRFft% WINTER,
PACIFIC COAST AGENTS,
E:-.-.rd J. -.on.
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
MEGE DISCOVERY.
Oleomargarine lutter
OR
MICROSCOPICALLY AND CHEMICALLY ANALYZED BY THE MOST SKILLFUL
AND DISTINGUISHED SCIENTISTS,
DEMONSTRATING ITS PURITY.
rx/Ujax ^r^rv>>jo-W
Award of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE, and Opinions of PROF. C. F. CHANDLER, President of
the New York Board of Health ; PROF. GEORGE F. BARKER, of the University of Penn-
sylvania ; DR. HENRY A. MOTT, JR., of New York; PROF. S. C. CALDWELL, of Cor-
nell University; PROF. S. W. JOHNSON, of Yale College; PROF. C. A. GOESSMANN, of .
the Massachusetts Agricultriral College ; PROF. HENRY MORTON, of the Stevens
Institute of Technology, of Hoboken; DR. CHARLES P.WILLIAMS, of
Philadelphia; PROF. ATWATER, of the Wesley an University,
and PROF. ARNOLD, of the University of New York.
NEW YORK:
Commercial Manufacturing Company Consolidated,
48TH STREET AND NORTH RIVER.
1881.
M WE Lib.
FEINBERG &
PACIFIC COAST AGENTS,
205 FRONT ST., San Francisco.
OR
BEFORE the Social Science Association, convened at
Saratoga in the summer of 1879, Mr. George T. An-
gell of Boston, President of the Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals, delivered an address on the
Adulteration of Food. He dwelt at length on .the im-
purity of oleomargarine butter (butterine), and 'made a
series of most unjust and unfounded statements against
its wholesom'eness. This, from a man who does not
even pretend to be a scientific man, and who never made
a chemical analysis in his life, was a pretty bold under-
taking. The only groundwork he had for the statements
he made were taken from an article of one John Michell,
an amateur microscopist having no scientific standing
and whose labor in every field, even to the examination
of a drop of water, is the subject of scientific ridicule,
and who sold the result of his sensational article on oleo-
margarine to a dairy paper for twenty-five dollars. It is
the object of this pamphlet to present a full and minute
examination of the whole subject of oleomargarine,
briefly considering the result of the investigation of the
leading scientific men in this country.
320910
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MEGE DISCOVERY.
The American Chemist, a monthly journal edited by
Prof. C. F. Chandler, Professor of Chemistry at Colum-
bia College, New York, and by other eminent scientific
men, published in April of 1874, an extract from a
report made by M. Felix Baudet, to the Board of
Health of the Department of the Seine, on the product
presented under the name of artificial butter by M. Mege
Mauries. It was translated from the Moniteur Scien-
tifique by Fred. A. Hoadley, B. A., and is as follows :
Some years ago, at a time when M, Mege Mauries,
commissioned by the government to investigate several
questions of domestic economy, was busy improving the
ordinary manufacture of bread, he was invited to make
some researches with a view to obtain, for the use of
the navy and of the poorer classes, a product suitable
to take the place of ordinary butter, to be sold at a much
less price, and capable of being kept without becoming
rancid, as butter does in a little while. M. Mege under-
took for this purpose the following
\
EXPERIMENTS AT THE FARM AT VINCENNESI
He placed several milch cows on a strict diet; soon
these cows experienced a decrease in weight, and fur-
nished a proportionately less amount of milk, but this
milk always contained butter. Where could the butter
come from? M. Mege believed that it was produced
from the fat of the animal, which, being absorbed and
carried into the circulation, was deprived of its stearine
by respiratory combustion, and furnished its oleomarga-
rine to the udders, where, under the influence of the
mammary pepsin, it was changed into butyric oleomarga-
rine ; that is to say, into butter. Guided by this infor-
mation, M. Mege attempted immediately to copy the
natural operation, by using at first cow's fat, then beef
suet; and he was not long in obtaining, by a process as
simple as it is ingenious, a fat fusible, at nearly the same
temperature as butter, of a sweet and agreeable taste.
He then succeeded in transforming this same fat into
butter, by a process similar to that of nature. Starting
from the well-known fact that fats are changed in the
presence of animal substances, and with a rapidity so
much the greater according as they are the longer in
contact with them, and according as the temperature is
the more elevated, he endeavored first to melt some beef
fat at a temperature of only forty-five or fifty degrees;
he obtained in this way a product without taste and free
from foreign odor, which afforded an excellent base for
the preparation of butter. He accomplished this as
follows :
of the best quality was ground up between two cylin-
ders, whose conical teeth crushed it and tore open the
membranes which enveloped it. After having under-
gone this grinding, it fell into a deep vat heated by
steam, and into which there was turned for every thou-
sand kilogrammes of fat three hundred kilogrammes of
water. The temperature of the mixture was then car-
ried to 45 centigrade, and the mass was carefully
stirred. At the end of two hours the fat separated from
the membranes which enveloped it. By means of a
flexible tube, tipped with the knob of a sprinkling pot,
6
it is then led off into a second vat, heated by a water-
bath to thirty or forty degrees, when there is added
two per cent, of sea salt, in order to facilitate the depura-
tion. In two hours this fat is separated from the frag-
ments of animal substances which have escaped the
dissolving action of the pepsin, and from the water
which it still retains ; it becomes clear and presents a
beautiful yellow color, and an odor very similar to that
of butter newly churned. It may now be solidified in
tin coolers of from twenty-five to thirty liters capacity.
These coolers, as soon as they are filled, are placed in a
room maintained at a temperature of twenty or twenty-
five degrees, where they are slowly cooled. The fol-
lowing day the fat, having acquired a semi-solid
consistence, presents a granulated appearance, as if
crystallized, which renders it very suitable for subjection
to the action of a press. It is then cut into cakes,
packed in linen and placed under a hydraulic press.
Under the influence of careful pressure, in a room
maintained at a temperature of about twenty-five de-
grees, this fat is separated into two very nearly equal
parts ; one, which represents forty or fifty per cent, of
the material, is the stearine, fusible between fifty and
fifty-nine degrees, which remains in the linen ; the
other is the liquid oleomargarine, in amount equal to
five or six tenths of the fat upon which we operated.
The stearine is employed in the manufacture of can-
dles ; it may be used to make stearine candles or stea-
rine acid candles. As for the oleomargarine, when it
has been congealed by cooling, it presents a granulated
appearance, a color slightly yellow, and an agreeable
taste. Besides, it melts perfectly in the mouth, like but-
ter, while beef fat, under the same condition, is sepa-
rated into oleomargarine, which dissolues into stearine,
which adheres more or less to the palate. The oleo-
margarine thus obtained, passed through cylinders
UNDER A SHOWER OF WATER,
in order to wash it and give to it a homogeneous con-
sistence, constitutes an excellent cooking substance,
and is intended to replace, with advantage and with
economy, the different fats, and even butter, in ordinary
cooking. It is especially valuable for the navy on ac-
count of the facility with which it may be preserved a
very long time without becoming rancid. It is actually
sold in Paris under the name of margarine, at from
eighty centimes to a franc for half a kilogramme. It is
already very much in demand. It is with oleomarga-
rine that M. Mege, by operating in the following
manner, makes his butter: Having observed that the
mammary glands of the cow, which secrete the milk,
contain a peculiar substance, a kind of pepsin, endowed
with the power of emulsionizing fat with water, he used
this observation to transform the oleomargarine into
cream, and finally this cream into butter. He placed
in a churn fifty kilogrammes of oleomargarine melted,
about twenty-five liters of cow's milk, which represent
less than one kilogramme of butter, and twenty-five kil-
ogrammes of water containing the soluble parts of 100
grains of the mammary glands of the cow, very finely
divided and kept for some time in .maceration. He
adds a small quantity of annotto, in order to give the
color. The churn is then set in motion, and at the end
of a quarter of an hour the oleo and the water become
emulsionized and transformed into a thick cream, simi-
8
lar to that of milk. By continuing the motion of the
churn the cream changes in its turn into butter, in a
longer or shorter time, according to the conditions of
the operation usually two hours suffice. The churn-
ing being ended, some cold water is poured into the
churn, and the butter separates, containing, like ordinary
butter, buttermilk. The product is then placed in an
apparatus like a kneading machine, and composed of
two cylindrical crushers placed under a stream of water.
There it is worked in a way to change it into well-
washed butter, of fine and homogeneous consistence.
This butter, washed with water at the ordinary temper-
ature, contains, according to my experiments performed
with L. Hote in the laboratory of M. Peligot, 12.5 per
cent, of water, leaving a residue when dissolved in ether
weighing 1.20 for every hundred grammes in the dry
state, and of two specimens, one solidified. I mean by
solidification point the thermometric degrees observed
at the moment when the instrument,
PLUNGED INTO THE LIQUID BUTTER,
ceases for an instant to fall, at the same time the but-
ter commences to become solid, and rises soon by the
influence of the heat generated by the solidification at
twenty-two degrees, the other at seventeen degrees,
while beef fat becomes solid between thirty-two and
thirty-three degrees. For the fine merchantable butter
of Paris I have found nineteen degrees as the point of
solidification. On the other hand, I have found 22.2
degrees for the ordinary butter of Calvado. According
to the experiments of M. Bouissingault in butter care-
fully prepared, well washed and dried, the proportion
9
of water is from thirteen to fourteen percent. It in-
creases to eighteen and to twenty and twenty-four per
cent, in the market butter of ordinary and inferior
quality. I have found 11.94 per cent, in the butter of
Isigny and 13.38 per cent, in the ordinary butter of the
Calvados.
" In regard to the caseous matter insoluble in the
ether, the butter of Isigny, first quality, gave me 3.13
grammes in 100 grammes of the dry substance, while I
have obtained only 1.20 grammes in 100 of the dry
residue with the butter of M. Mege. This artificial
butter presents, then, this advantage, that it contains
much less water and animal substance, which makes the
ordinary commercial butter rancid; moreover, for the
same weight, it furnishes more genuine butter. The
two circumstances assist, without doubt, in its preser-
vation, which is much more perfect than that of com-
mon butter. They also prevent it from acquiring the
odor and the acridity which are soon developed in the
latter. During warm weather, when ordinary butter
can with difficulty be preserved from melting, it is easy
to give to the artificial butter a more or less solid con-
sistence by preparing an oleomargarine more or less
free from stearine. On the other hand, M. Mege has
observed that by washing his butter with water at a
temperature of only five or six degrees, he is able to
leave in it less water, and thus to obtain a product
capable of being kept a very long time. < A specimen
of butter thus prepared, and which M. Mege called
' butter without water,' carried from Paris to Vienna,
in Austria, the 29th of October, 1871, has just been
brought back, on the 5th of April, and is found still,
after five months,
10
IN A GOOD STATE OF PRESERVATION.
" In order to fully appreciate the value of the prod-
uct of M. Mege as regards domestic economy and
hygiene, I have requested several of my colleagues to
try the oleomargarine and the artificial butter ; I have
submitted this product to the judgment of several
breeders and butter merchants of the Auge valley; I
have used it myself also in my household, and we have
all been of the opinion that the oleomargarine consti-
tutes an excellent butter for the kitchen, and that if the
artificial butter has not the fine and aromatic taste of
the Normandy butter for eating with bread, or use in
culinary preparations, it does afford, in many other re-
spects, the qualities of ordinary butter perfectly. The
experiments which I have witnessed in the works of M.
Mege, those which I have myself made, or which have
been made at my instance on the new products which
he has brought forward, authorize me to believe that he
has realized a happy application of his knowledge and
his inventive genius in this employment of beef fat, and
that he, has furnished for consumption two new and
important products. The first, called oleomargarine,
offers a valuable material for cooking purposes, espe-
cially for naval vessels during long voyages, by reason
of its good quality, and of its capability of long and ex-
cellent preservation. The second, possessed of proper-
ties which allow of its close comparison with butter in
a chemical point of view, as well as regards its uses,
may take the place of the latter in many instances; and
in consequence of the small expense at which it can be
made, it has been put in competition with milk butter,
which will lower necessarily the price of the latter, to
11
the benefit of the consumer, which will render the con-
sumption of it less considerable, and will allow the
breeders to devote a greater quantity of milk to the
raising of calves, a great advantage to this industry.
"As regards healthfulness, it is evident that the
origin and preparation of these two products presented
by M. Mege do not afford any circumstance which can
render their consumption a matter of suspicion. There
is, then, no reason for opposing the sale of these products,
if we include the proviso that that which M. Mege Mau-
ries compares to butter is not really butter in the usual
and true acceptation of the word. It should not be sold
under the name of butter, but under a particular desig-
nation, which will permit it to be distinguished from
butter properly so called, or milk butter."
THE AUTHORITY ABOVE QUOTED,
in a chemical and scientific point of view, bearing on any
ordinary subject, would not be questioned, but would be
sufficient to convince any candid and intelligent mind
that there cannot be a shadow of doubt as to the impor-
tance of this discovery and the great benefits derived
therefrom by furnishing to the people a healthful article
of diet.
Yet when we consider that this new product is put
forward as a substitute for butter, an article which
enters into the daily consumption of every family in this
and other civilized countries, it is evident that a matter
of such vast importance is worthy of careful investiga-
tion. "The Encyclopedia Britannica* the highest au-
* Johnson's Encyclopedia, Vol. i, p. 685; American Encylopedia, Vol.
12. p. 614.
12
thority known, treats of oleomargarine butter (butterine,
as it is known in Europe) as follows, in volume four,
under the title of ' Butter.' "
" Under the name of butterine, an artificial substitute
for butter has been introduced in America and imported
into England from New York. It is the same as the
artificial butter, or ' margarine-mauries' which has been
for some years manufactured in Paris according to a
method made public by the eminent chemist, M. Mege
Mauries. Having surmised that the formation of butter
contained in milk was due to the absorbtion of fat
contained in the animal tissues, M. Mauries was led to
experiment upon the splitting up of animal fat. The
process he ultimately adopted consisted in heating finely
minced beef suet with water. The mixture he raised to
a temperature of 45 C. (113 Fahr.) He removed the
fatty matter and submitted it, when cool, to powerful
hydraulic pressure, separating it into stearine and oleo-
margarine, which last alone he used for butter-making.
Of this oil, about the proportion of ten pounds, with four
pints of milk and three pints of water, were placed in a
churn, to which a small quantity of annotto was added
for coloring, and the whole churned together. The
product so obtained, when well washed, was, in general
appearance, taste, and consistency, like ordinary butter,
and when well freed from water, it was found to keep a
longer time. According to French official reports, arti-
ficial butter goes much farther as food than the genuine
// article, and forms a perfectly wholesome dietic material.
The Parisian octroi officials have recognized the effi-
ciency of the substitute by imposing on it the same du-
ties which are chargeable on ordinary butter. The
company was established, and the manufacture in France
13
had in 1874, seven manufactories, in which 400 men
were employed." There can be no doubt that the pro-
duct obtained by the process of M. Mege Mauries is a
safe and more wholesome article than the unsavory,
rancid butter which is sold so extensively. We find
this industry was practically established, and its product
introduced into commerce in the large cities of the
East, where the demand and consumption of oleomar-
garine butter grew so rapidly that much capital was
applied to its manufacture, by the erection of large
factories, on such an expensive scale that the great mass
of butter made by the old dairy system was forced out
of the market, at a heavy loss to the producer and com-
mission merchant who had made his advances. This
led to the organization of a society composed of farmers
and commission men, who enlisted in one common cause,
banded together, raised subscriptions to employ private
policemen and detectives, and adopted every unfair
meansto injure and destroy the manufacture of this prod,
uct. Falsehoods the most malignant were industriously
circulated; prejudices were played upon, and artful and
unconstitutional laws were passed, to assist them in their
attempts to crush a rival so formidable to the old method
of producing butter. Laws were passed to suit their
purposes, not to protect the interests of the people.
Special acts were passed in nearly all the States where
the industry had been established ; yet, in the face of all
legislation and misrepresentation, oleomargarine grew
rapidly into favor.
THIS CONTINUAL AND BITTER OPPOSITION
led the thinking portion of the public to investigate
14
for themselves, whereupon the superiority of oleomar-
garine to a large proportion of dairy butter was proved.
As a last resort the organization called to their assis-
tance one John Michell, a so-called microscopist, who
claimed to discover that the product contained numbers
of living objects. These assertions were published
broadcast, with a view to alarm unthinking people.
This vicious misrepresentation was taken up by the
manufacturers of oleomargarine butter ; and for the pur-
pose of exposing the false statements made by Michell,
had their several products critically examined under
the microscope, and compared with dairy butter, by the
highest authority in this country in that branch of
science, Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, of the University Med-
ical College of New York, and the result was published
in a letter from Dr. Mott in the New York Times, from
which the following is taken :
"OLEOMARGARINE BUTTER RECENT
MICROSCOPIC TESTS.
" PROF. MOTX'S REPLY TO JOHN MICHELL COMPARATIVE
PURITY OF DAIRY BUTTER AND THE
ARTICLE OF COMMERCE.
" Prof. Mott has recently made microscopic tests of
samples of dairy butter and oleomargarine butter.
The result of his labors will be found in the subjoined
communication. He shows a grade of purity in the
new article of commerce, and in what particulars it
equals certain grades of dairy butter.
" To the Editor of the New York Times In a recent
number of a dairy organ there appeared an article on
15
oleomargarine, by one John Michell, the object of which
was evidently an attempt to damage the oleomargarine
industry. The writer presents two microscopical plates
illustrating oleomargarine butter and natural butter as
they appear under the microscope to him. I hardly
know how to express myself with respect to Mr. Michell,
but one thing is certain, that this plate representing
oleomargarine butter was either intentionally originated
to create a sensation, or that Mr. Michell himself is a
person perfectly incompetent to make microscopical
investigations. This, I think, will be clearly demon-
.strated to any fair-minded man farther on in this
paper. Mr. Michell states in his article that the close
resemblance of oleomargarine to butter suggested to
him the propriety of making a microscopical examina-
tion of both substances, to see if they could be distin-
guished by such means. This suggestion was a good
one, and, had he carried it out conscientiously, science
would be at least benefited by examination. Seeing
the importance of a thorough microscopical investiga-
tion after such gross misrepresentations as have been
presented by Mr. Michell, I visited Prof. J. W. S. Ar-
nold, Professor of Histology and Microscopy in the
University Medical College of this city, who is acknowl-
edged to be one of the leading microscopists in this
country, and engaged him to make the investigation.
Not being satisfied with a microscopical examination
of the butter alone, I determined to have examined
caul-fat, stearine, oleomargarine (before being churned),
and oleomargarine butter, and compare the same with
natural butter, both pure and rancid. The samples
examined by Prof. Arnold were obtained from the Com-
mercial Manufacturing Company, by myself in person,
and given to him.
i6
" Figure i represents caul-fat under the microscope,
the crystalline nature and adipose tissue being clearly
seen, as also a globule of oil.
Fig. i.
" Figure 2 represents oleomargarine before it is
churned, or what is known as oleomargarine oil. It
Fig. 2.
will be seen from this plate that oleomargarine before
being churned is entirely in a crystalline condition.
" It will be necessary, before proceeding to a descrip-
tion of the other plate, to explain the cause of crystalli-
zation. The crystalline condition of oleomargarine oil
is due to the fact that the oil is allowed to cool gradu-
ally, and then crystallized to a solid condition. To
demonstrate this point most emphatically to your read-
ers, I directed Prof. Arnold to melt a sample of natural
butter, allow the same to cool slowly to a solid con-
dition, and then make a microscopical examination, the
result of which is illustrated in Figure 3.
Fi g- 3-
" From this figure it will at once be seen that the
mass is entirely crystallized, and in no way differs from
oleomargarine oil, as shown in Figure 2.
" Figure 4 represents oleomargarine butter, and Fig-
ure 5 natural butter. It will be seen by examination
of these two figures that they consist of an innumer-
able number of minute globules of varying size, but not
a trace of a crystal appears in either ; nor is there seen
any contorted shape, imaginary figures or bodies, as
2
i8
represented in Figure 6, which is Michell's representa-
tion of oleomargarine butter.
Fig. 4.
" I quote the following paragraph from an article pub-
lished by Michell on the ' Microscope and its Misrep-
resentations ': 'The fact that most skillful microsco-
pists of the age all differ upon the true appearance of a
19 '
common and not very minute object, and the micro-
scope itself presenting to the vision the most opposite
appearances of one and the same object, should act as
a caution to those who accept too readily theories
based upon microscopical researches.' If this remark-
able and spontaneous effusion is true about skillful
microscopists, how much more important it is to re-
ceive with the very greatest caution the inaccurate or
manufactured results of an amateur microscopist! The
Fig. 6.
remarkable illustration by Michell, shown in Figure 6,
when compared with the accurate illustration by Prof.
Arnold, shows at once that the former was obtained
by a person perfectly incompetent to make a microscop-
ical examination. If Michell did obtain under the
microscope any such illustration as shown in Figure 6,
it only demonstrates more clearly how incompetent he
is to make the examination ; for the contorted-shaped
bodies can only be explained (if at all) by the glass
cover pressing too hard on the butter under examina-
20
tion. The crystals of fat which are represented are
seldom present in freshly made oleomargarine or nat-
ural butter, but sometimes form after either butter has
been kept for some time. If the butter softens, crys-
tals of fat are formed when it solidifies again, in both
cases.
" In the editorial notice on Mr. Michell's article I
find the following : ' The writer does not intimate that
these crystals are noxious or hurtful, or that their pres-
ence imparts any impure taint to the mass in which
they are so plentifully distributed. It, however, is evi-
dent that just in proportion to their extent the mass of
which they form a component part must be less rich,
and correspondingly less nutritious than the butter,
which is wholly butter, and nothing else.' The last
part of this paragraph is so absurdly ridiculous that
I hardly think it requires answering; but, fearing that
your readers might accept the same without giving
thought to it (as it was undoubtedly written without
proper thought or consideration), I think it may be well
to answer it, and in the shortest way possible, which I
will do by asking a simple question : Is crystallized
sugar 'less rich, and correspondingly less nutritious,'
than powdered sugar? If you think so, just powder
some of the crystals and try it. (Is ice less pure than
the water out of which it forms ?)
u Figure 7 represents a sample of rancid butter
bought on Eleventh Avenue, the retail price being
twenty cents a pound. It will be seen on examining
this figure that dark, black indentations are to be seen
in most of the globules, showing that decomposition
is in progress. This decomposition is the first stage
of putrifaction, which can only take place by the
21
growth and development of multitudes of minute or-
ganisms. All of the soluble fats which give the aroma
and delicate flavor of butter are, by the growth of the
organisms, decomposed into rancid acids, which, when
taken internally, bring about a general disorder of the
system, producing ' violent cramping and purging, and
often setting up putrefaction in the tissues.' There
can be no doubt that a very large per cent, of the sick-
ness among the poorer classes is due to the use of
Fig. 7.
rancid butter, who, before the introduction of oleomar-
garine butter, were compelled to buy it, owing to the
high price of a better article. I say owing to the high
price of a better article : this statement is not altogether
correct ; for, if they had the inclination to buy a pure
sweet article, free from rancidity, it would be, under
the present condition of things, an impossibility to
supply their demand. It is the admission of the Sec-
retary of the American Dairymen's Association that
only five per cent, of the 800,000,000 pounds the an-
22
nual production of butter is a perfect article. Mr.
Curtiss, to explain this statement, says the five per
cent, means the ' strictly fancy ' butter, and that at
least twenty-five per cent, will be pronounced fine,
while fifty per cent, of the butter is sweet and palat-
able, and also wholesome. This explanation, although
somewhat more favorable to dairymen, is certainly not
saying very much. To think that, by their own admis-
sion, 400,000,000 pounds of butter sold in this country
Fig 8.
is offered at a somewhat lower price than the price of
good butter, because it is in a state of decomposition,
tainted by rancid acids and swarming with minute or-
ganisms; and because of its cheapness, the poor people
had to purchase it before the introduction of oleomar-
garine butter! Does this speak well for the dairymen?
No : it only speaks for the filthiness of the dairy ; for
cleanliness is nine-tenths of the secret of making a
pure, sweet butter. One drop of milk left in the milk-
pail, the milk-pan, or the churn, soon becomes the
23
proper medium for the growth and development of the
numerous germs of life which float in our atmosphere
fermentation and putrefaction of this little drop of
milk soon take place. Add now to either of these
different apparatuses fresh milk or cream, and that
which was fresh and sweet before adding is now tainted,
itself in the process of decomposition.
" Figure 8 represents stearine, which will be seen to
be in an entirely crystalline condition. The following
is the report of Prof. J. W. S. Arnold on the samples
examined by him, all of which I carefully examined
myself, and can verify the accuracy of his investigation :
" PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, MEDICAL DEPARTMENT,
UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, June 17, 1878.
" DR. H. W. MOTT, JR. :
'' My Dear Sir I have made a careful microscopical examination of
the samples of caul-fat, stearine, and oleomargarine which you placed
in my hands. These substances are entirely free from any impurity
or injurious material detectable by the microscope. I have also sub-
mitted the oleomargarine butter -to a similar examination, comparing
it with natural butter, and finding the oleomargarine butter to consist
of exceedingly clear and beautiful oil globules, a sufficient proof of
its purity. The specimen of rancid butter shows very nicely the gran-
ular and irregular oil globules characteristic of decomposing fat. I
send you a series of photo-micrographs of the various fats and butter
examined. The magnifying power equals a four-tenths objective and
1 A ' eye-piece.
'" Verytruly yours,
" J. W. S. ARNOLD, A. M., M. D.
" Further reference to Mr. Michell's article almost
seems a waste of time ; but, as he makes some sensa-
tional remarks about finding in the butter ' parts of the
tissue of the animal, with fragments and cells of a sus-
picious character,' and then in connection with these
remarks, speaking of trichinee, and of diseases which
24
can be communicated from animals to man. Although
there is not the least foundation for his imaginary
speculations, I think it well to answer a few of the
more prominent ones. In the first place, if Mr. Michell
understood how to prepare a slide with oleomargarine
butter for microscopical examination, he would have ob-
tained results which could not be distinguished from the
result obtained when natural butter is examined, as
demonstrated by Figures 4 and 5. Then he would not
have discovered any tissue and remarkable cells; but,
NOT KNOWING HOW TO EXAMINE A SAMPLE,
he obtained any number of distorted-shaped bodies,
which were entirely the result of ignorance or intentional
misrepresentation. Again: Michell calls attention to the
fact that, as the fat is never submitted to a higher tem-
perature than 120 Fahrenheit, 'it is merely liquefied,
and that it would appear to follow the germs of disease
(or their equivalent morbid secretions); andembryoes of
parasites are thus liable to be transferred in a living
condition into the system of those who make use of this
substance/
" The best answer to these remarks is probably a con-
fession which Mr. Michell made to me personally when
he stated that, in all his examinations and in all his
readings, he had never seen or heard of germs of disease
or embryoes of parasites in caul-fat And still, acquainted
with those facts, he was unprincipled enough to insinu-
ate directly to the contrary. I give below a few para-
graps from some correspondence which has been carried
on respecting this subject by two of the highest authori-
ties in this country on any subject connected with para-
25
sites. The first is from a letter by Prof. A. E. Verrill,
A. M., S. B. of Yale College.
" In regard to worms in beef fat, I will state definitely that no such
instances are known to occur. Nor has trichinae been observed either
in the fat or flesh, except when the embryoes have been purposely
fed to the animals before killing them (for experimental purposes).
"The second is from two letters by Prof. William H.
Brewer, also of Yale College :
"The idea that oleomargarine is more dangerous than butter, be-
cause heated to only 120 degrees Fahrenheit, is simply nonsense.
" Professor Brewer also gave the following written
answers to the questions cited below :
" First Do parasites, that could find their way into the human sys-
tem through the use of oleomargarine as food, infest the bovine race ?
" To this I answer : ' Not that I have ever heard of. If such exist,
science has not yet found them. The bovine race, like most other
creatures, have parasites, but no species has yet been described which
would be transmitted to man in that way.'
" Second Can the microscope be relied on to distinguish between
the butter fats, whether natural or artificial ?
" On this I cannot speak with certainty. My belief is that it can-
not, so far as the mere fats are concerned ; but that it would be an
aid to chemistry, in the hands of a skillful expert, to distinguish be-
tween butter and other compounds of which such fats are ingredients.
" Third Is not oleomargarine, as made by the Mege patent, as
wholesome and nutritious as cream butter?
" So far as chemistry and common sense suggest, I see no reason
why it should not be as wholesome and nutritious as cream butter,
and will so believe unless its actual use demonstrates to the contrary.
oleomargarine to be entirely free from * any impurity
or injurious material,' and shows that oleomargarine
butter, instead of consisting of ' crystals and tissues of
animals, with fragments and cells of a suspicious char-
acter,' consists of exceedingly ' clear and beautiful oil
globules,' the same as the purest natural butter.
Although this investigation has taken a great deal of
26
time, with the assistance of the ablest scientific men in
the country to refute the gross misrepresentations of
Mr. Michell, it will have two effects : one, to more
publicly establish the remarkable purity of oleomar-
garine butter; and the other to influence the public in
the future to hesitate to accept the imaginary results of
an ignorant amateur. The microscope, then, estab-
lishes the absolute purity of oleomargarine butter.
What now can chemical analysis say? The result of
a careful qualitative analysis conducted by myself has
demonstarted that every constituent found in natural
butter is to be found in the artificial products. This
being the case, let us turn our attention to quantitative
analysis, and see how each constituent compares with
each other as to quantity present.
" The following analyses which I have just conducted
of natural and artificial butter are the most elaborate
which have yet been made :
ANALYSES OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL BUTTER, BY DR. H. A. MOTT, JR.
No. i. No. 2.
Constituents. Natural Artificial
Butter. Butter.
Water 11,968 11,203
Butter solids 88,032 88,797
100. ooo 100.000
{Olein
Stearine
Arachin ^51.422 56.29
Myristin
( Butyrin )
Sol. fats . . . . ) Caprin (
,8,3
\ Caprylin
Casein 192 .621
Salt . 5.162 5.162
Coloring matter Trace. Trace.
88.032 88.797
27
" No. i is calculated to the same percentage of salt
as No. 2.
" By examining the above two analyses it will be seen
that the artificial butter contains a somewhat larger per-
centage of butter solids. The percentage of soluble fats
which was determined by Herner's new method in
artificial butter is somewhat less than in the natural prod-
uct quite sufficient, though, to give the product a good
flavor and aroma, but hardly sufficient, when decom-
posed, to render the product rancid; and it is for this
reason that oleomargarine butter keeps so much longer
than natural butter. Chemical analysis joined with the
microscope to prove the identity of natural and artificial
butter, and demonstrate the absolute purity of the latter.
It is to be hoped, in the face of these facts, especially
when the Board of Health pronounces it a pure and
wholesome article of food, that all further controversy is
at an end forever. It will be so to science, and also to
all honest and fair-minded dealers, but not to men whose
avarice is paramount to principle. So long as they can
realize their five and ten per cent, on the 400,000,000
pounds of impure, rancid butter, just so long will they
endeavor to hunt up Michell in every shape and form,
having no regard whatever for the health of the great
masses of people to whom such impurities are dealt out."
Prof. Morley, of Hudson, Ohio, a distinguished chem-
ist and microscopist, writes:
" I could distinguish no crystal of oleomargarine, and no other sub-
stance except fragments of crystals of salt. The microscope shows
nothing which should justify any prejudice against oleomargarine
butter."
28
Prof. Thomas Taylor, a microscopist in the Agricul-
tural Department at Washington, after making a
thorough investigation of oleomargarine butter manu-
factured by the American Manufacturing Company of
Baltimore, says :
" It is my conviction that oleomargarine butter is destined, at no
distant day, to be placed side by side with the best creamery butter,
and drive out of the market all inferior grades."
Prof. Peter Collier, chemist of the Agricultural De-
partment at Washington, submitted to Commissioner
Le Due a report of a comparative analysis of oleomar-
garine and dairy butter. Both he and Prof. Taylor
agree in the statement that the artificial butter submitted
to analysis shows no marked deviation from ordinary
pure butter as found in the market, and there is no evi-
dence of anything injurious or abnormal.
The Board of Health of New York, of which Prof.
C. F. Chandler is president, having been requested by
the New York State Senate to investigate oleomargarine
butter as to its purity and wholesomeness, reported
ARTICLE OF FOOD."
Yet it is on such authority as Michell's, a man of no
scientific attainments or pursuits, that G. T. Angell made
such statements before the Association at Saratoga.
Evidently he must have been ignorant of the standing
and attainments of the author from whom he was quot-
ing. /If the investigations of amateurs such as Michell
are to have weight and bearing against the testimony of
such an array of known scientists, then science is turned
into ridicule.
2 9
We are led to ask, Why this opposition to an industry
in the face of such cumulative and undoubted testi-
mony as to its merits? Either oleomargarine butter is
a meritorious article of commerce, or it is a base fraud.
If there is any reliance to be placed on testimony at all,
and if we are to judge from evidence, it is clearly a set-
tled fact that it is found to be an eminently wholesome
product. Hyppolite Mege, of Paris, France, who
brought to light this law of nature that the fat of
cattle is the origin and only source of butter on this
discovery alone, aside from his other efforts in behalf of
science, established his position as one of the first
chemists in the world.
We are not surprised that the ordinary mind cannot
grasp and understand
SO GRAND A DISCOVERY,
which is in direct conflict with the recognized method
of making butter. But what shall be said of merchants
who deal in this article, and whose avarice would
prompt them to combat the manufacture of an article
which must prove so beneficial to the people.
^ It is now an assured success, and is driving out of
market a large proportion of ordinary butter. The
London Grocer of January 5, 1878, the greatest of com-
mercial papers, calls it the butter of the future, and
recommends its use in the strongest terms. The
authorities given prove that it goes farther as an article
of food, and remains pure and sweet much longer,.than
ordinary butter, which keeps but a few days in a warm
climate before rancidity and decomposition take place.
Prof. Arnold, Secretary of the American Dairy Associa-
30
tion, in his annual report, makes the remarkable state-
ment that out of 800,000,000 of pounds, the annual pro-
duction in this country, but five per cent, is a perfect
article of food. But what becomes of the unwholesome
ninety-five per cent. ? It is this vast aggregate of impure
food that oleomargarine is driving out of the markets.
Its opponents admit that for the year 1878, 90,000,000
pounds of this product was consumed in this country
alone, while a larger amount was exported to Germany,
France, and Holland, where it was churned into butter,
and thence transported to England. It is stated, in a
foreign commercial journal of March i, 1878, that two
butter-making firms of Holland exported weekly to the
United Kingdom an amount representing ,25,000, or
$125,000, including both natural and artificial butter.
For the manufacture of artificial butter these two firms
use daily 20,000 kilogrammes of oleomargarine, and
8,000 liters of new milk. This industry bears, in a most
important manner,
UPON THE CATTLE INTERESTS
of this country. Within the past few years an enormous
demand has been created abroad for canned meat, fresh
beef, and live cattle. Hundreds of thousands are annu-
ally required to meet this want. One company, the
East St. Louis Canning Company, slaughters daily 700
head of cattle, or about 2,500,000 during the year, and
exports the greater portion in the shape of canned
meats. The result is that beef in our market com-
mands a much higher price in proportion than other
articles of food. To produce a larger supply is a prob-
lem of easy solution to the farmers. Let them cease to
3 1
slaughter millions of calves annually before they are fit
for food, and raise them on the milk from which butter
has been taken.
If the old method of producing butter cannot main-
tain itself without misrepresentations and special State
enactments, then it should and will disappear, and give
place to the new product, by which the people are fur-
nished a pure and wholesome butter. If the bitter and
unjust opposition waged against this industry had been
brought to bear against all new labor-saving methods,
then long since we should have cast aside the reaper
and gone back to the sickle. In like manner the mower
would have been replaced by the scythe. Such opposi-
tion invites us to follow a blind prejudice which seeks
to destroy every innovation ; but the world moves, and
old methods are being daily forced to recognize the
merits of the new. Therefore, the manufacture of
oleomargarine butter should be gladly welcomed as an
important and valuable industry, believing that it will
meet a great want by furnishing a pure and wholesome
butter.
33
INDORSEMENT OF OLEMARGARINE
BY THE
PRODUCE EXCHANGE.
WHEREAS, The manufacture of oleomargarine and
oleomargarine butter, or butterine, has been indorsed
by men eminent in science, as the following certificates
show ;
Therefore, we, members of the New York Produce
Exchange, hereby recognize the said product as a pure
and wholesome article of food, and of value to com-
merce.
NAMES.
John Anderson,
James Thallon,
Fowler Bros.,
Thomas & Co.,
Wm. Miller,
Alex. D. Corson,
Cecil Rowson,
John M. & Henry Webb,
Osborn Bros.,
F. Kiorboe,
David Muir,
John Orpe,
John G. Dale,
E. T. Hopkins,
A. H. Turner,
Thos. D. Harrison,
H. K. & F. B. Thurber & Co.,
C. F. Emerson & Co.,
John Cahill,
Peter Jones,
G. H. Crichton,
Knapp & Co.,
C. H. Johnson,
Fred Stephenson,
Gould H. Thorp & Co.,
E. A. Johnson,
ADDRESS.
7 Bowling Green.
17 Moore St.
17 Broadway.
5 Bowling Green.
13 Moore St.
13 Moore St.
35 Broadway.
5 Bowling Green.
5 Bowling Green.
5 Bowling Green.
2 Broadway.
3 Broadway.
31 and 33 Broadway.
3 Bowling Green.
12 Bridge St.
27 Water St.
West Broadway and Reade,
31 Water St.
42 Whitehall St.
i Water St.
30 Whitehall St.
in Broad St.
27 Front St.
31 Front St.
109 Broad St.
109 Broad St.
34
NAMES.
Theo. Perry,
John F. Levers,
John A. Sullivan,
Theophilus M. Marc,
Thomas Whitman,
Geo. McGrath,
V. W. McFarlane,
G. M. Merrielees,
W. E. Adams,
James B. Bouck,
J. W. Follett,
C. W. Strachan,
C. H. Cadwell,
Auguste Vatable,
Geo. H. Webster,
H. P. Low,
John H. Emanuel,
John Goggin,
Geo. F. Patrick,
Peter Brett,
William H. Fox,
Alfred Churchman,
Jno. A. Cooper,
Chas. D. Sabin,
Goulard, Rouse & Bostwick,
G. F. Bechtel, Jr.,
F. A. Lowe,
C. E. Cole,
E. Mathews,
Wm. P. Bensel,
E. A. Wallis,
Edward Read,
Christ. F. Tietjen,
O. H. Blackman,
E. B. Terrill,
Asa Stevens,
Jas. Edmiston,
Thos. I. McGrath,
S. Van Brunt,
J. A. Sperry,
L. J. Rice,
M. S. Popham,
W. S. Cobb,
Jos. S. Thayer,
R. F. Martin,
Geo. C.. Stedge,
C. B. Lathrop,
Chas. A. Smith,
W. S. Bracken,
ADDRESS.
15 Water.
31 Water St.
13 Whitehall St.
43 Exchange Place.
13 Whitehall St.
12 Front St.
19 South William St,
Exchange Building.
17 Moore St.
in Broad St.
38 Whitehall St.
82 Broad St.
115 Broad St.
82 Beaver St.
129 Broad St.
31 Water St.
131 Pearl St.
38 Whitehall St.
37 Whitehall St.
37 Whitehall St.
20 Platt St.
17 Moore St.
9 Water St.
25 Water St.
36 Whitehall St.
109 Water St.
31 Water St.
41 Broad St.
65 Beaver St.
350 Washington St.
67 Pearl St.
115 Broad St.
i Leonard St.
200 Forsyth St.
72 Beaver St.
86 Broad St.
70 Beaver St.
172 Reade St.
59 Beaver St.
New Haven.
28 Moore St.
80 Broad St.
499 Washington St.
129 Broad St.
129 Broad St.
115 Broad St.
122 Broad St.
115 Broad St.
52 Exchange Place.
35
NAMES.
Chas. Spear,
A. Sinclair,
Robert R. Phillips,
F. W. Cummuskey,
Geo. N. Carhart,
J. W. Alt,
Thos. E. Cole,
E. S. Whitman,
Benj. Hicks,
Rob't S. Fish,
Archibald Harris,
C. Medcafe,
Thomas Martin,
F. Fortman,
H. G. M. Linton,
I. & C. Moore & Co,,
E. T. Barrows,
J. C. Gale,
Archibald Baxter,
Bechstein & Co.
W. H. McNeil,
H. J. Hayne,
Thos. Rafferty,
S. F. Havens,
Wm. Hardy,
Wm. Williamson,
G. Speckel,
Jos. Lockitt,
G. Perry,
Frederick W. Phillips,
Samuel Goodhue,
L. G. Biglow,
W. C. Smith & Co.,
Henry Dillon,
Levi G. Burgess,
F. A. Van Idenstine,
Edward H. Bunker,.
Henry C. Frink,
C. W. Biglow,
Chas. W. Kurtz,
F. W. Kriege,
J. Hess,
Snow & Burgess,
C. D. Georgiades,
J. B. Smull,
R. Parkinson,
F. P. Albert,
P. M. Millspaugh,
C. A. Kimball,
ADDRESS.
85 West St.
14 Moore St.
64 Beaver St.
58 Greenwich St.
19 Broadway.
3 State St.
35 Broad St.
159 Front St.
165 Broad St.
60 Beaver St.
189 and 191 Front St.
39 Pearl St.
189 Front St.
27 South William St.
33 Nassau St.
142 Pearl St.
60 Beaver St.
Pier 30, North River.
17 Broadway.
100 Hudson St.
641 West 38th St.
1 60 Front St.
44th St. and E. River.
115 Broad St.
51 Pearl St.
63 Pearl St.
44 Beaver St.
184 Fulton St., Brooklyn.
19 Old Slip.
31 Moore St.
13 Water St.
35 Broadway.
53 Exchange Place.
29 Front St.
66 South St.
272 Hudson St., Brooklyn,
64 Beaver St.
30 Broadway.
40 Broadway.
25 Pearl St.
5 William St.
17 South William St.
60 South St.
Produce Exchange.
31 and 33 Broadway.
40 Whitehall St.
13 Moore St.
1 6 Broadway.
127 Water St.
NAMES.
C. D. Moulton,
Stephen Whitman,
F. X. Schedler,
M. Groh.
D. K. Baker,
E. W. Mascord,
R. H. Hazeltine,
E. R. Livermore,
R. W. Kennedy,
J. A. Chamberlain,
Lockitt & Co., Packers,
Chamberlain, Roe & Co.,
W. Cockle,
A. A. Jones,
Thos. C. Dow,
A. D. Sterlin,
E. B. Pearsall,
E. G. Burgess,
C. B. Hancock,
W. H. Story,
Henry B. Hebert,
Ira Olds & Co.,
S. B. Joseph,
J. E. Jenkins,
Paul Worth,
H. L. Daniels,
E. S. Herrick,
E. Munn,
A. S. Jewell,
A. R. Gray,
Wm. M. Deverall,
Lillienthal Bros. & Stern,
F. L. Whittemore,
E. H. Walker,
G. H. Roberts,
H. C. Hicks,
F. D. Winchester,
E. Ibbotson,
C. H. Blanchard,
P. Westervelt,
C. N. Sheppard,
Jno. J. Ferris,
E. C. Beile,
W. Eismann,
S. W. Hoyt, '
H. Sabin,
ADDRESS.
40 Broadway.
99 Pearl St.
32 Pearl St.
80 Beaver St.
335 Greenwich St.
2 State St.
3 1. Pearl St.
119 Broad St.
145 Reade St.
25 Pearl St.
Brooklyn.
25 Pearl St.
124 Front St.
in Broad St.
Exchange Place.
1 Moore St.
46 Front St.
35 Pearl St.
2 Broadway.
2 Broadway.
14 Moore St.
17 Broadway.
13 Moore St.
6 1 Beaver St.
18 William St.
1 8 William St.
ii State St.
6 1 Beaver St.
27 Water St.
no Broad St.
134 Pearl St.
Cedar St.
4 State St.
38 Whitehall St.
3 Front St.
71 Broadway.
38 Whitehall St.
69 Broadway.
6 Bowling Green.
19 Broadway.
5 Bowling Green.
37 Pearl St.
43 Exchange Place.
150 Broome St.
Hudson & Duane Sts.
25 Water.
And many others.
OLEOMARGARINE BUTTER.
Answer of Prof . Chandler to a Congressional Inquiry.
Hon. Morgan R. Wise of Pennsylvania, Chairman
of the Committee on Manufactures of the House of
Representatives, addressed a letter to Prof. Charles F.
Chandler, President of the New York Board of Health,
informing him that the Committee has under considera-
tion a bill in relation to adulterations in food and drink,
and asking whether the article known as oleomargarine,
or butterine, is wholesome or unwholesome, and for such
other information as might be in the possession of the
Board. The following is Prof. Chandler's response :
HEALTH DEPARTMENT, 301 MOTT STREET,
NEW YORK, March 27, 1880.
MY DEAR SIR:
In reply to your letter of inquiry, I would say that I
have been familiar with the discovery of Mege Mauries,
and its application in the manufacture of artificial butter,
called " butterine," or " oleomargarine," since the date
of its first publication.
I have frequently seen it manufactured, witnessing
all the operations, and examining both the material and
the product.
I have studied the subject with special reference to
4
the question of its use as food, in comparison with the
ordinary butter made from cream, and have satisfied
myself that it is quite as valuable as the butter from
the cow ; that the material from which it is manufac-
tured is perfectly fresh beef suet; that the processes
are harmless ; that the manufacture is conducted with
great cleanliness. The product is palatable and whole-
some, and I regard it as a most valuable article of food,
and consider the discovery of Mege Mauries as mark-
ing an era in the chemistry of the fats.
Butterine is manufactured of uniform quality the
year round, and can be sold at a price far below that
at which ordinary butter is sold. It does not readily
become rancid, and is free from the objectionable taste
and odor which characterize a large proportion of the
butter sold in this market.
I am informed that there are at present thirteen fac-
tories in the United States licensed under the patents
to manufacture this butter. The Commercial Manu-
facturing Company of New York is making at the
present from 30,000 to 40,000 Ibs. daily. In addition
to this industry, there is a large manufacture of what
is known as " oleomargarine oil," which is shipped as
such to Europe, to be there converted into butter ; so
that this product has become an important article of
export to foreign countries.
The beef suet which was formerly converted into
common tallow, only suitable for the manufacture of
soap, is, by this beautiful discovery, now manufactured
into oleomargarine oil and stearine, of double the value
of the tallow formerly produced. The following anal-
yses, made by Drs. Brown and Mott, sufficiently illus-
trate the composition of the biitterine:
Constituents.
Butter.
Water 1 1.968
Butter solids 88.032
No. i. No. 2.
Natural Artificial
Butter.
11.203
88.797
IOO.OOO IOO.OOO
f
tin:::::::::.:v.v:.f 3.s*4 ^
Insol. fats . . < Stearine ...
I Arachin ^51.422 56.29
VMyristin
{Butyrin
cS;;: ::::::::;;::{ *'
Caprylin )
Casein 192
Salt 5.162
Coloring matter Trace.
1.823
.621
5.162
Trace.
88.032 88.797
Last winter a resolution was adopted by the Legis-
lature of the State of New York, requesting the Board
of Health of the city of New York to investigate the
subject, and report whether, in its opinion, the butterine
is a wholesome article of food. In response to this
resolution, the Board of Health stated that in its opin-
ion there is no sanitary objection whatever to the unre-
stricted manufacture and sale of this substance.
In support of my opinion herein expressed, I inclose
the statement to the same effect made by Prof. George
F. Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania; Dr.
Henry A. Mott, Jr., of New York ; Prof. S. C. Caldwell,
of Cornell University; Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale
College ; Prof. C. A. Goessmann, of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College ; Prof. Henry Morton, of the Stev-
ens Institute of Technology of Hoboken ; Dr. Chas.
P. Williams of Philadelphia; Prof. W. O. At water, of
the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. ; and
Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, of the Medical Department of
the University of New York.
Hoping that this my reply contains all the informa
tion you desire, I remain,
Very respectfully yours,
CH. F. CHANDLER, PH. D.,
Prest. of the Board of Health.
To HON. M. R. WISE,
Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures,
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
[Letter from Prof. Barker.]
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
PHILADELPHIA, March 22, 1880.
THE UNITED STATES DAIRY Co.
G-entlemen : In reply to your inquiry, I would say that I have
been acquainted for several years with the discovery of Me'ge
Mauries for producing butterine from oleomargarine fat. In theory,
the process should yield a product resembling butter in all essential
respects, having identically the same fatty constituents. The but-
terine prepared under the inventor's patents is, therefore, in my
opinion, quite as valuable a nutritive agent as butter itself. In
practice, the process of manufacture, as I have witnessed it, is con-
ducted with care and great cleanliness. The butterine produced is
pure and of excellent quality, is perfectly wholesome, and is desira-
ble as an article of food. I can see no reason why butterine should
not be an entirely satisfactory equivalent for ordinary butter, whether
considered from the physiological or commercial standpoint.
Respectfully yours,
GEORGE F. BARKER.
[Letter from Prof. Morton.]
STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, March 16, 1880.
UNITED STATES DAIRY Co.
G-entleman : During the last three years I have had occasion to
examine the product known as artificial butter, oleomargarine, or
butterine, first produced by M. Mege, of Paris, and described by
him in his patent of July 17, 1869.
I have also frequently witnessed the manufacture of this material,
and with these opportunities of knowing exactly what it is, I am
able to say with confidence that it contains nothing whatever which
is injurious as an article of diet ; but, on the contrary, is essentially
identical with the best fresh butter, and is very superior to much of
the butter made from cream alone which is found in the market.
The conditions of its manufacture involve a degree of cleanliness
and consequent purity in the product such as are by no means nec-
essarily or generally attained in the ordinary making of butter from
cream. Yours, etc.,
HENRY MORTON.
{Letter from Prof. Johnson.']
SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE COLLEGE,
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, March 20, 1880 .
THE UNITED STATES DAIRY Co.
G-entlemen : I am acquainted with the process discovered by M.
Mege for producing the article known in commerce as oleomargarine,
or butterine.
I have witnessed the manufacture in all its stages, as carried out
on the large scale, and I can assert that when it is conducted ac-
cording to the specifications of M. Mege, it cannot fail to yield a
product that is entirely attractive and wholesome as food, and one
that is for all ordinary culinary and nutritive purposes the full equiv-
alent of good butter made from cream.
Oleomargarine butter has the closest resemblance to butter made
from cream in its external qualities color, flavor, and texture. It
has the same appearance under the microscope, and in chemical
composition differs not in the nature, but only in the proportions of
its components. It is therefore fair to pronounce them essentially
identical.
While oleomargarine contains less of those flavoring principles
which characterize the choicest butter, it is, perhaps, for that very
reason, comparatively free from the tendency to change and taint which
speedily renders a large proportion of butter unfit for human food.
I regard the manufacture of oleomargarine or butterine as a
legitimate and beneficent industry.
S. W. JOHNSON,
Professor of Theoretical and Agricultural Chemistry; Director of tlie Connec-
ticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
8
[Letter from Prof. CaldwelL]
CHEMICAL LABRATORY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY,
ITHACA, N. Y., March 20, 1880.
I have witnessed, in all its stages, the manufacture of " oleomar-
garine " and of oleomargarine butter, or u butterine."
The process for oleomargarine when properly conducted, as in the
works of the Commercial Manufacturing Co., is cleanly throughout,
and includes every reasonable precaution necessary to secure a
product entirely free from animal tissue, or any other impurity, and
which shall consist of pure fat made up of the fats commonly known
as oleine and margarine. It is, when thus prepared, a tasteless and
inodorous substance, possessing no qualities whatever that can make
it in the least degree unwholesome, when used in reasonable quanti-
ties, as an article of food.
In the manufacture of butterine, since nothing but milk, annotto,
and salt, together with perhaps a little water from clean ice, are
added to this oleomargarine, to be intimately mixed with it by churning
and other operations, I have no hesitation in affirming that this also,
when properly made according to the Mge patent and other
patents held by the United States Dairy Co., and when used in rea-
sonable quantities, is a perfectly wholesome article of food ; and
that, while not equal to fine butter in respect to flavor, it neverthe-
less contains all the essential ingredients of butter ; and since it con-
tains a smaller proportion of volatile fats than is found in genuine
butter, it is, in my opinion, less liable to become rancid.
It cannot enter into competition with fine butter ; but in so far as
it may serve to drive poor butter out of the market, its manufacture
will be a public benefit. S. C. CALDWELL.
[Letter from Prof. G-oessmann.]
AMHERST, MASS., March 20, 1880.
UNITED STATES DAIRY Co., NEW YORK.
Gentlemen : I have visited, on the 17th and 18th of the present
month, your factory on West Forty-eighth Street, for the purpose
of studying your mode of applying Mege's discovery for the manu-
facture of oleomargarine butter, or butterine. A careful examination
into the character of the material turned to account, as well as into
the details of the entire management of the manufacturing operation,
has convinced me that your product is made with care, and furnishes
thus a wholesome article of food. Your oleomargarine butter, or
butterine, compares in general appearance and in taste very favor-
ably with the average quality of the better kinds of the dairy butter
in our markets. In its composition it resembles that of the ordinary
dairy butter ; and in its keeping quality, under corresponding cir-
cumstances, I believe it will surpass the former ; for it contains a
smaller percentage of those constituents (glycerides of volatile acids)
which, in the main, cause the well-known rancid taste and odor of a
stored butter.
I am, very respectfully yours,
C. A. GOESSMANN, PH. D.,
Professor of Chemistry.
[Letter from Dr. Williams.']
LABORATORY, No. 912 SAMSON STREET,
PHILADELPHIA, March 22, 1880.
During a period of upwards of two years I have been practically
familiar with the details of the manufacture by the Mge method of
oleomargarine butter, or u butterine." From my experience and
observation of the care and cleanliness absolutely necessary in the
manufacture of this product, together with my knowledge of its
composition, I am satisfied that it is a pure and wholesome article of
food, and in this respect, as well as in respect to its chemical com-
position, fully the equivalent of the best quality of dairy butter.
I will add further, that, owing to the presence of a less quantity
of the volatile fats, the keeping qualities of the oleomargarine butter
are far superior to those of the dairy product.
CHARLES P. WILLIAMS, PH. D.,
Analytical Chemist; late Director and Professor Missouri School of Mines,
State University.
[Letter from Dr. Mott.']
H. A. MOTT, JR., PH. D., E. M.,
ANALYTICAL AND CONSULTING CHEMIST,
OFFICE, 117 WALL STREET,
NEW YORK, March 12, 1880.
UNITED STATES DAIRY Co.
G-entlemen : Having been acquainted for the past six years with
the process of the manufacture of the product called oleomargarine
butter, or butterine, and having made numerous microscopical and
chemical examinations of the product, I am clearly of the opinion
1
that the product called oleomargarine butter is essentially identical
with butter made from cream ; and as the former contains less of
those fats which, when decomposed, render the product rancid, it
can be kept pure and sweet for a much longer time.
I consider the product of the Me'ge discovery a perfectly pure
and wholesome article of food, which is destined to supplant the
inferior grades of butter, and be placed side by side with the best
products of the creamery.
Kespectfully,
HENRY A. MOTT, JR., PH. D r
[Letter from Prof. Arnold.]
UNIVERSITY PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY,
410 EAST 26TH ST., April 2, 1880.
This is to certify that I have carefully examined the ' * Me'ge
Patent Process " for the manufacture of oleomargarine butter, or
butterine ; that I have seen and tasted at the factory each and
every ingredient employed ; that I have made thorough microscop-
ical examinations of the materials used and of the butter ; and I
consider that each and every article employed in the manufacture of
oleomargarine butter, or butterine, is perfectly pure and wholesome ;
that the oleomargarine butter differs in no essential manner from
butter made from cream ; in fact, the oleomargarine butter pos-
sesses the advantage over natural butter of not decomposing so
readily, as it contains fewer volatile fats. In my opinion, oleomar-
garine is to be considered a great discovery, a blessing for the poor,
and in every way a perfectly pure, wholesome, and palatable article
of food.
J. W. S. ARNOLD, A.M., M.D.
Prof. Physiology and Histology, Med. Dep. Univ. New York.
[Letter from Prof. Atwater."]
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY,
MIDDLETOWN, CONN., March 29, 1880.
I have carefully looked into the theory and the practice of the
manufacture of butterine (oleomargarine) by the "Mege process,"
and examined the product. A consideration of the materials used,
the process of manufacture, and the chemical and microscopical
II
character of the butterine, seem to me to fully justify the following
statements :
As to its qualitative composition, it contains essentially the same
ingredients as natural butter from cows' milk.
Quantitatively, it differs from ordinary butter in having but little
of the volatile fats which, while they are agreeable in flavor, are, at
the same time, liable to rancidity. I should, accordingly, expect
butterine to keep better than ordinary butter. The best evidence
within my reach indicates that just such is the case. The butterine
is perfectly wholesome and healthy, and has a high nutritious value.
The same entirely favorable opinion I find expressed by the most
prominent European authorities English, French, and German
who are unanimous in their high estimate of the value of the "Me'ge
discovery." and approval of the material whose production has there-
by been made practicable.
I am, very truly yours,
W. 0. ATWATER.
Award of the American Institute.
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,
NEW YORK, March 24, 1880.
Copy of the Judges' Report in Department VII., Group 3, at the
Forty-seventh Exhibition of the American Institute, held in the
City of New York, October and November, 1878.
No. 879. OLEOMARGARINE BUTTER.
COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING Co.,
643 WEST 48TH STREET, NEW YORK.
The oleomargarine butter (Mage's process) has the general
appearance of the usual style of good dairy butter. The texture
presents some slight difference to the eye of an expert. The absence
of some of the elements which give the peculiar aroma to the best
quality of spring-grass butter tends to prevent the approach of any
unpleasant change in this article, and it is thus enabled to resist the
effects of time, as- upon a long sea voyage.
We have examined the process of manufacture, and find the prod-
uct clean and wholesome.
While the best quality of dairy butter must still maintain its
superiority, any departure from the most perfect manufacture will
make the oleomargarine a dangerous rival.
12
The process utilizes valuable animal products, and makes useful in
the kitchen and upon the dining-table much that was formerly used
for less important purposes ; and for this and its keeping qualities it
should receive some recognition by the Institute.
A. 8. HEATH, M.D.,
ROBERT J. DODGE,
WILLET SEAMAN,
The Medal of Excellence Awarded.
A true copy of the report on file.
Judges.
D. R. GARDEN,
Assistant, Clerk.
FEINBERG & WINTER,
PACIFIC COAST AGENTS,
205 FRONT ST., San Francisco.
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