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52
affect his business and trade in Siberian butter. By Dr. Sanders:
Siberian butter had come much to the fore since 1898. His firm did
not analyse the butter as it came over.
Mr. Otto Hehner said the difference between butter fat and other
fat was almost entirely due to the soluble volatile acids, which distinguished
it from every other fat. The amount of volatile acids
varied very much—the lowest was 16, and the highest 35.6; the 16
would be quite exceptional. He had frequently found genuine butters
where the figure was below 24. When he spoke of butter varying in
the Reichert-Wollny number from 16 to 34 it had nothing to do with
its dietetic value. There was no connection between the figures and
the inherent value of butter; it was but the figure by which they
discovered the difference between one fat and another fat. It was
difficult to mix foreign fats with butter; it would all have to be
melted. Taking the Government Laboratory's figures as quite correct,
237 was a very low volatile; if he was told that it was Siberian
butter he should say the usual figure was not applicable. Before
giving evidence before the Select Committee he looked up about
thirty samples of Siberian butters, and all of them went below the
usual standard of volatile fatty acids—in some cases to 22. Cold
weather affected the cows. If this butter was made in April and the
weather was cold, the volatile acids would decrease. In England last
April some cows gave low figures —in cases within his experience one
18 6 and two others 20.9, the milk being from perfectly healthy herds.
Taking the figures of the analyses, each one of them was seen in
analyses of perfectly pure butter, but some of them were abnormal.
All of them should be taken in their proper connection. There was
nothing in the figures which would lead him to the conclusion that
there were foreign fats in the sample. The quantity of butter sent for
analysis was too small to allow the submission of it to all the applicable
tests, for which a mass.of 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. would be required. From
the fact that there was but 9.9 of water and the absence of preservative,
he concluded that it was Siberian butter. His Reichert-Wollny
number was 22.8, midway between Mr. Young's and the Somerset
House analyses. By Dr. Sanders: He appeared at the Thames Police
Court, and differed then with the Government Laboratory analyses,
but there were different officers then. (Laughter.) He knew of no
butter but Siberian which came into this country without preservative,
but the low water and the absence of preservative led him to the
conclusion that this was Siberian butter. From a single cow he had
discovered the lowest Reichert-Wollny number—viz., 16. This result
came from a cow that had been milked for eighteen months, but at
the time it was not known that it was an exceptional cow. Wellkept
cows had given a low figure; it did not follow that an ill-fed