cause of astonishment to our geologists, as was the mark of the foot
on the sand to Robinson Crusoe.

Now for a few gatherings from the continent. M. Chalambel has laid
before the Académie at Paris a 'Note on a Modification to be
introduced in the Preparation of Butter, which improves its Quality
and prolongs its Preservation.' 'If butter,' he observes, 'contained
only the fat parts of milk, it would undergo only very slow
alterations when in contact with the air; but it retains a certain
quantity of _caseum_, found in the cream, which caseum, by its
fermentation, produces butyric-acid, and to which is owing the
disagreeable flavour of rancid butter. The usual washing of butter
rids it but very imperfectly of this cause of alteration, for the
water does not wet the butter, and cannot dissolve the caseum, which
has become insoluble under the influence of the acids that develop
themselves in the cream. A more complete separation would be obtained
if these acids were saturated; the caseum would again be soluble, and
consequently the quantity retained in the butter would be almost
entirely carried away by the washing-water.'

The remedy proposed is: 'When the cream is in the churn, pour in--a
little at a time, and keep stirring--enough of lime-wash to destroy
the acidity entirely. The cream is then to be churned until the butter
separates; but before it forms into lumps, the buttermilk is to be
poured off, and replaced by cold water, in which the churning is to be
continued until the butter is complete, when it is to be taken from
the churn and treated as usual. I have,' says M. Chalambel, 'by
following this method, obtained butter always better, and which kept
longer, than when made in the ordinary way. The buttermilk, deprived
of its sharp taste, was drunk with pleasure by men and animals, and