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92
Third portion sent to Somerset House, 23rd March, 1911.
Report received from Somerset House and summons finally heard,
27th April, 1911.
The Public Analyst is by statute required to state on his certificate
the date of the receipt by him of a sample for analysis, and to specially
report regarding milk, butter, or any article liable to decomposition,
whether any change had taken place in the constitution of the article
that would interfere with the analysis. The Government Analyst is
under no obligation to do this. The Council are of opinion that he
should be, and with this object addressed a. communication on the
subject to the Local Government Board.
The Local Government Board replied by letter dated the 24th July,
1911, stating that they are advised that in the case of a sample of milk
which has become decomposed no difficulty exists in accurately determining
the fat originally present; and that evidence on this matter,
and an account of the practice of the Government Laboratory in
analysing samples of milk referred there in connection with the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts will be found in Dr. Thorpe's paper to the
Chemical Society, 1905, vol. 87, p. 207.
The Local Government Board add that they have already considered
the suggestion that the Government Chemist should be required to
state on his certificate the date of the receipt by him of a sample for
analysis, and to specially report regarding milk, butter, or any article
liable to decomposition whether any change had taken place in the
constitution of the article that would interfere with the analysis, but
that they do not, however, see the necessity of taking any action in the
matter.
The Public Analysts for the City subsequently submitted the
following joint report on the subject:—
"The statement in the letter from the Local Government Board
that the process adopted by the officials at the Inland Revenue
Laboratory for the analysis of decomposed milk is capable of
accurately determining the proportion of fat originally present in
milk depends upon what interpretation is placed upon the word
accurately.
" Taking the figures given in Dr. Thorpe's paper (referred to in the
letter) and in other published documents on the subject, it appears
that there is a possible error of as much as 5 per cent, of the fat
originally present in the fresh sample in attempting to determine
the fat in the decomposed milk by the process in use at the Inland
Revenue Laboratory. In spite of this, certificates have' been
repeatedly issued by the officials of the Inland Revenue Laboratory
showing results differing from those of the Public Analyst by as