LACTOMETER

(Lat lac, and metrum, a measure.) A term applied to a gla tube for ascertaining the proportion which the cream bears to the milk of any particular cow, or of the produce of I whole dairy. The tube la about half an inch in diameter, and a foot in height, with a graduated scale marked on the outside. It is filled with milk when newly drawn from the cow; and as it cools, the cream rises to the surface, and the proportion which it bears to the jscertained bv counting the degrees opposite to each. [s. 651]