WEDNESDAY, December 27, 1876. Mr. PRENTICE read by stipulation the evidence of Prof. Geo. F. Barker, taken in the case of John Joechter, tried Feb. 2, 1876. GEORGE F. BARKER, sworn: Q. You are a professor at Yale College? A. I am not now. Q. What was your chair, and what is your present position? A. I had the chair of physiological chemistry, and I am now professor of physics in the University of Pennsylvania. Q. What has been your professional experience? A. My profession at Yale college was chemistry, and at Albany, doctor of medicine. Since 1861, I have been a professor of chemistry up to three years ago in various institutions. Three years ago I moved to Pennsylvania, and took the chair of physics. My business of course has been instruction. Q. Has the subject of pure cow's milk, and the method of testing it, been under your inspection? A. Yes, sir, it has occupied my attention in discharging the duties of my chair, and the investigations I have made with a view to instruct my classes. Q. Have you lectured on the subject of milk? A. I have. Q. And the literature upon the subject, the standard works, you are acquainted with them? A. Yes, sir. sir. Q. You have heard the evidence of President Morton ? A. Yes, Q. And the lactometer, you consider it to be a hydrometer? A. Yes, sir. Q. How is it as giving the test of the specific gravity of liquids? A. It is a floating body, and a floating body floats in virtue of the principle that a floating body thrown into a liquid will sink, until it displaces its own weight of that liquid; if the liquid be heavier than water it will not have to sink as far; the hydrometer is the generic name of all instruments used for floatation; the lactometer is used for testing milk. Q. How do you determine the specific gravity of pure cow's milk? A. By the lactometer. Q. Now, a lactometer graduated upon the scale of 1.029, as a test for the specific gravity of pure cow's milk, what is your opinion in relation to that? A. My opinion is that any form of the hydrometer may be as accurate as any other instrument, and the lactometer is no exception. Q. Now take it at the graduation of 1.029, now, sir, I ask that as the scale for the testing of the specific gravity of pure milk, the scale of 1.029-what is your opinion as to its reliability, or the propriety of that grade? A. As I understand the question, it is in reference to this instrument; I cannot tell by inspection what this instrument is graduated for; each instrument must be tested by itself. Q. Now, sir, what would in your opinion be a proper standard for a lactometer to test pure milk? (Question objected to by the defense; overruled; exception.) A. The specific gravity of 1.029, in my opinion, would be a correct figure of the minimum for the correct gravity of milk. Q. Do you know what the standard of the Board of Health is in its lactometer? A. Not of my own knowledge. Q. Can it be pure milk, which has not been manipulated in some way, if it stands below 100 degrees? A. No, sir. Q. In experimenting upon milk, do the conditions under which the experiment is made have any effect upon determining the accuracy of the experiment? A. They do. Q. If milk should be found at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahr. to stand at 88 degrees on a lactometer graduated to the scale of 1.029, what would that prove as to the gravity of the milk? A. It would prove that some lighter substance had been mixed with it. Q. Which is the lighter, water or milk? A. Water. Q. Would milk tested under such conditions standing lower than 88 degrees be pure milk? (Question objected to by the defense; overruled; exception.) A. No, sir; it would not. Q. If the milk which is tested has been cooled in an open pan in water and not cooled by yourself, would you consider that to be a safe condition in determining the accuracy of the instrument which you were using? A. My confidence in the result would depend entirely upon the confidence I had in the person making the experiment; if I made the experiment alone, entirely without outside interference, I would consider it reliable. any (Question repeated.) A. I should not consider it safe. Cross-examined: Q. How many methods are there, Doctor, of ascertaining the purity of milk? A. I really do not know. Q. Is there any more certain method of testing the purity of milk than by the lactometer, which I understand you to say is only a test of its gravity? A. Yes, sir; as to quality. Q. What is it? A. The shortest method is analysis. Q. That is the shortest method of determining whether or not milk is pure? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then if you were to take, Doctor, a sample of milk and were requested to determine whether it was pure milk, the surest method of ascertaining whether it was pure milk would be by making analysis? A. Yes, sir; with the same restrictions as before. Q. The lactometer is simply a test of the gravity of the milk? A. Yes, sir; that is all. Q. And the surest method of ascertaining whether milk is adulterated or not is to make an analysis of it? A. Yes, sir. Re-direct: Q. In determining the adulteration of milk by water is the analysis any more certain method of detection of impurity of this kind without reference to the degree of impurity, than the lactometer? A. It would not. Q. The lactometer is just as sure a test of adulteration by water as the analysis? A. It is. Re-cross: Q. If milk is adulterated with water it of course lessens its gravity? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then a lactometer when inserted would simply indicate what the gravity of the milk was, and indicate that it was watered? Yes, sir. A. Q. If it fell below a certain degree? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then take a case of absolutely pure milk from a well fed healthy cow and a test is made with the lactometer; doesn't it show a less degree of gravity than in a case of skimmed milk? (Question objected to by the prosecution; overruled by the Court; exception taken.) A. It does. Q. Then in a case of skimmed milk where the lactometer would show a higher degree than in a case of absolutely pure milk, if you desire to ascertain whether the skimmed milk was adulterated it would be necessary for you to make an analysis, wouldn't it, as a sure test? A. I should say not. Q. Then do I understand you to testify that the lactometer when inserted in skimmed milk, would be a sufficient indication to your mind, if it showed a certain gravity, that the milk was adulterated, simply by the test of the lactometer? (Question objected to by the prosecution; overruled; exception taken.) Q. Take a sample of skimmed milk and insert the lactometer, and if it should show a certain degree above 100 degrees, would that be a certain indication to your mind that the milk was adulterated, or would you require to make an analysis first to satisfy you that the milk was adulterated? A. The fact that the lactometer stands higher than in pure milk would be proof positive to my mind that the pure milk has been adulterated by water to make it skimmed milk. Q. Aren't there certain substances, which if put into skimmed milk, would make it show higher on the lactometer? A. Yes, sir. Q. Skimmed milk will show higher than pure milk? A. Yes, sir. Q. It does show higher than pure milk? A. Yes, sir. HENRY W. VAUGHAN, sworn and examined by Mr. WAEHNER: Q. What is your profession? A. State Assayer of Rhode Island and Analytical and Consulting Chemist of the City of Providence and City Inspector of Milk of the State. Q. Have you made the subject of milk a special study, and have you made practical experiments for some time past? A. Yes, sir; I have. Q. How long? A. I have held the position of City Inspector of Milk, I think, five years; during that time I have constantly been analyzing and examining milk and making milk a subject of investigation, and before that time I analyzed milk for Doctor Wiggins, who was then the Inspector. Q. Have you made tests of milk with the lactometer? A. Yes, sir; I have. Q. Frequently? A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you found pure milk standing below 1.029 to your own knowledge? A. Yes, sir. Q. Many instances? A. Yes, sir; a good many. Q. Did you have any evidence that the condition of the cows was healthy from which such milk came? A. I believed them to be so; they were from the farm of Governor Sprague, a choice selection of cattle. Q. Will you state what the practice in Providence and in the State of Rhode Island is, as practiced by you, of testing milk? (Objected to.) COUNSEL-We desire to show that the evidence of the lactometer is not received in the State of Rhode Island; that it is not regarded as a test, and we bring here an experienced witness, the Inspector of Milk of the City of Providence, to demonstrate that the instrument is an unreliable instrument. The COURT-I exclude the evidence upon the ground that I remarked yesterday generally that it is irrelevant to the issue. COUNSEL-We except to the ruling of the Court. Q. Now, sir, from the evidence of the senses in conjunction with the lactometer and thermometer would you give it as your opinion that an article was adulterated milk with water or not? A. I would not swear that it was milk by testing it with the lactometer; I could not tell whether it was milk or not. Q. I am putting it in conjunction with your senses, whether you would say, from the evidence of your senses coupled with the lactometer-whether you would say it was adulterated with water or not? A. No, sir; I do not think you could swear to it; you would surmise that such was the case; I do not think the report could be |