William Lewis Davies

38. The Inactivation of Lipase in Dairy Products by Traces of Heavy Metal Salts

Traces of heavy metals in amounts up to 25 parts per million have the property of inhibiting the action of lipase in butter from unpasteurised sweet cream in varying degrees depending on the concentration of the metal and on the metal itself. Copper was the most potent metal of those studied, iron, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and chromium being less active, while tin and aluminium had no effect. The acidity produced was accompanied by fat-peroxide formation in amount varying directly with the acidity. This was attributable to the free oleic acid formed. The depression of lipase activity by the various metals varied directly with their catalytic power in inducing fat oxidation later, and it is suggested that destruction of lipase was catalysed by the traces of heavy metals according to their varying powers of activating oxygen. Lipase as a compound naturally associated with fats might thus be looked on as a natural “antioxygen.”

199. The chloride content of milk

The frequency distribution of the chloride contents of 7802 samples of milk, grouped into morning and evening samples, monthly samples for three consecutive years from the Institute herd, samples from Shorthorn, Guernsey, Ayrshire and Friesian cows, and other miscellaneous samples, has been determined. The mode for morning milk is 81–90 and for evening milk 71–80 mg. %. The mode for Guernsey and Shorthorn milk is 71–80 and for all (6076) samples, 81–90 mg. %. The mode for milk from herds of Friesians known to give milk of low content of solids-not-fat was 111–120 mg. %, but this must not be taken as the value for this breed generally. The average for Shorthorn milk is 97, Guernsey 93, Institute herd 93, all samples 98, special Friesian herd 128 and bulk Institute milk 85 mg. %. Factors influencing the chloride content of milk such as breed, age of cow, lactation period, number of lactations, seasonal effects, and udder troubles have been discussed from inspection and by deduction from the series of values obtained. The electrical conductivity of milk increases with chloride content but there is some deviation from the linear law. The conductivity increases at a greater rate than the chloride content in samples high in chloride, probably owing to the increase in electrolytes other than chloride.

65. The Composition of the “Isotonic Diluent” in Samples of Milk low in Solids-not-fat

Casein nitrogen has been shown to account for roughly 76 per cent, of the total nitrogen in over 200 samples of normal milk. Samples low in solids-notfat have shown a casein nitrogen percentage below this figure, and by assuming a 76 per cent, level of casein nitrogen as standard, it is suggested that milk may be considered as made up of two fractions, (a) a true-milk fraction and (b) an isotonic diluent. From the distribution of the nitrogen in whole-milk samples it has been possible to calculate on this basis the amount of dilution and the nitrogen distribution in the diluent. Results are given for 38 samples of milk. The chloride content of the diluent has also been approximately arrived at and is approximately isotonic with a hypothetical non-lactosecontaining milk. The similarity in composition of the diluent either to a modified blood serum or lymph serum or a casein- and lactose-free lacteal secretion has been discussed. Its high chloride content favours its similarity either to lymph serum or a “transudate” or “exudate” closely allied in composition to lymph serum from pathological secretory tissue. The possibility of after-effects of attacks of mastitis causing a chronic catarrhal condition of the udder being the cause of the secretion of this diluent is also discussed.

202. The composition of cheese rinds

Rinds from home-produced and Dominion Cheddar cheese contain from 15 to 20 % of moisture, but those from unripe cheese contain up to 27 %. Salt tends to diffuse into the interior of cheese while the rind is slowly drying, but the rate of diffusion is not quantitatively proportional to the moisture content, although closely approached in cheese requiring a long period of ripening. There is an appreciable loss of fat from the rind through absorption by the bandage. The fat has a high acid value and carries the characteristic taste of the rind. Rinds have a higher crude protein content than the interior of cheese; the extent of protein breakdown is less but can be correlated with that in the interior of the cheese. Rinds contain higher calcium and phosphorus contents in the dry matter and a higher Ca/P ratio than the interior of cheese. The fibre content of rinds is negligible. The content can be gauged from a visual inspection of a sample for portions of bandage.

‘A new occasion, a new term of relation’: Samuel Beckett and T. S. Eliot

This essay examines the understudied relationship between T. S. Eliot and Samuel Beckett. In the first part of this essay, previous critical treatments of this relationship are considered and factual corrections are made where error has been introduced regarding remarks by Beckett on Eliot. This essay then explores Beckett’s treatment of what he identifies as two distinct versions of Eliot: the early twentieth-century experimental writer of such poems as The Waste Land; and the critic-publisher of The Criterion, Faber & Faber, and the producer of what Beckett labelled a ‘professorial’ approach to poetry. In doing so, this essay considers how the conflicts between Beckett’s rejection of Eliot as a critic and his more ambivalent treatment of Eliot as a poet allow for an exploration of the tensions that are central to modernism, and how this impacts the configuration of both Eliot and Beckett within what has come to be thought of as ‘Late Modernism’.