Cow’s milk should average 12 per cent. of cream; if it contain less than 8 per cent., it is probable that the milk is watered or that it was skimmed. A cream gauge is a cylindrical glass vessel about one and a half inches in diameter and eight inches high, with a capacity of 12 fluid ounces. This tubular measure is graduated so as to make it possible to read off from the top downwards 1, 2, 3, etc., parts or drams of cream which gradually rises to the surface. This glass is filled with the suspected specimen of milk up to the highest mark and set aside for 24 hours, at an ordinary temperature; at the expiration of that time the quantity of cream which rose to the surface of the milk is read off, and in this manner it is easy to see the proportion of cream to the entire bulk of milk tested. Above it was stated that 12 per cent. is an average for good milk, and 14 per cent. is extra good, while 8 per cent. is the lowest that is permissible. If the percentage falls below 8 per cent. it is a sign that the milk has been skimmed, and if the density or specific gravity is below 27 degrees, then it is to be presumed that the milk has also been watered, for sometimes the milk is both skimmed and watered. The density or specific gravity of milk gives an approximate idea of the quantity of solid matter a given specimen submitted for examination contains, as compared with pure water. The lactometer or galactometer is a kind of hydrometer, but specially graduated to readily read off the density which pure milk should have. Pure milk at a temperature of 55 to 60 degrees should have a specific gravity varying between 27 and 33 degrees and if the sample falls below 27 degrees, it is to be presumed that water has been added. The density of diluted milk is sometimes maintained by boiled starch water; this can be detected by adding a few drops of tincture of iodine, which changes the starch into a beautiful violet blue, also giving the adulterated milk a similar tint. It must always be remembered that while milk presents itself in a liquid form it becomes a semi-solid in the stomach in the ordinary process of digestion; this change is accomplished by the action of the gastric ferment, curdling the milk. Milk is not a diluent for solid foods and it should never be drank as a substitute for water when other solid food has been eaten. The practice of eating a regular meal of meat and vegetables and drinking milk at the same time invariably overloads the stomach, and if it does not injure the digestion immediately it is sure to do so in time; it also furnishes an oversupply of nitrogenous food, developing an excess of lithates or uric acid, and this burdens the liver and kidneys. If a person is fond of milk it is most excellent as a principal article of diet at a meal, and indeed nothing is better than a bowl of well-prepared mush or a few slices of bread with a pint of fresh milk for either breakfast or supper.