Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The author, after criticising the various methods for estimating fat
in milk which have been proposed from time to time, agrees with Stokes
(_Analyst_, 1885, p. 48), Eustace Hill (_Analyst_, 1891, p. 67), and
Bondzynsky (_Landwirth Jahrb. der Schweiz_, 1889), that the method of
Werner Schmid is the simplest, most rapid, and convenient hitherto
introduced. The conditions tending to inaccuracy are: The employment
of ether containing alcohol; boiling the mixture of milk and acid too
long, when a caramel-like body is formed, soluble in ether; the
difficulty of reading off the volume of ether left in the tube, owing
to the gradations of the instrument being obscured by the flocculent
layer of casein; when only a portion of the ether is used, fat may be
left behind in the acid mixture, as shown by Allen (_Chem. Zeit._,
1891, p. 331). The author believes that by the invention of the simple
apparatus represented in the accompanying figure, he has rendered the
process both accurate and convenient. This consists of a flask B of
about 75 c.c. capacity, which has a glass tap fused on, with two
capillary tubes attached, the one passing upward, the other downward.
The neck of flask B is ground into the neck of flask A, which holds
about 90 c.c. Either of the flasks can be placed in communication with
the external air by the opening _a_. The ether must be previously
washed with one or two tenths of its volume of water, to remove traces
of alcohol. The operation is performed as follows: 10 c.c. of well
mixed milk are weighed in (or measured into) flask A, 10 c.c. of
hydrochloric acid added, and the mixture heated to boiling on an
asbestos sheet. The boiling must not exceed a minute and a half, the
fluid being shaken from time to time, and not allowed to become of a
deeper color than a dark brown [not black]. The flask is cooled, and
25 c.c. of ether added. The two flasks are connected as shown in the
figure, the tap closed, and the whole shaken for a few minutes, the
flask being vented two or three times by the opening _a_. The
apparatus is now inverted, allowed to stand five or six minutes, the
tap turned, and the dark acid liquid drawn off into flask B. By a
little shaking of the ether the whole of the acid liquid may be easily
got into the lower flask. The apparatus is again inverted, then
separated, 10 c.c. of ether are introduced into the flask B, the tap
closed, and the fluids well shaken. When the ether layer is distinct,
the acid liquor is run off, and the ether solution transferred to A.
The whole of the ether solution is washed in the apparatus two or
three times with a little water, the flask A removed to the water
bath, the ether driven off, the last traces of ether and water being
removed by placing the flask in a drying oven heated from 107 to 110 deg.
C., where it must remain at least twenty minutes. The usual cooling in
the exsiccator and weighing concludes the operation. Examples are
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