Babcock_Test_40th_Anniversary_Transcript.rtf

[music] 

- Dr. Babcock declines to permit public demonstration in his honor. So this, the 40th anniversary of his ethical invention, has made the occasion of a visit to his laboratory by leaders in the dairy industry. Mr. O.E. Reed, Chief of the Bureau of Dairy Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, H.L. Russell, Dean of the College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin, and Charles L. Hill, president of the National Dairy Association.

- Harry L. Russell: You know, this is the first machine that was built. And, as a matter of fact, it hasn't been changed in the last 40 years, has it, Dr.?

- Dr. Stephen M. Babcock: Only in the mechanical construction.

- Charles L. Hill: Strange looking contraption, isn't it? Yet it revolutionized the whole dairy industry. If it wasn't for this machine, we wouldn't have a dairy industry that produces one-fifth of the total farm income of the country. No, Doctor, every time I hear the story of this test, I'm impressed with the fact that you wouldn't permit it to be given to the world, even though it tested every cow in the station herd, except one. Ain't that right, Dean?

- H.L. Russell: Yes, there was one cow in the station herd, "Old Sylvia", that he couldn't test the milk with with his first test. They said he wouldn't put out any test until he got so he could test all the cows in the station herd. You know, it took him months to perfect it after he got to this stage. I always remember, though, with a great deal of a thrill the fact that he would not give this thing out under a patent. He said he didn't want to make a dollar out of the thing at all. He wanted to give it free to the people of the world.

- Ollie E. Reed: How did you happen to use exactly 17 and 6/10 cubic centimeters of milk, Dr., in making your case?

- S.M. Babcock: Because with 17 and 6/10 cubic centimeters of average milk, the graduated scale on the tube could be made in centimeters. One centimeter meaning 5% fat.

- O.E. Reed: Well, the question is often asked: Why it is that you used just exactly that amount? That's interesting to me.

- Babcock: Well, the fact that it enabled the manufacturers of tubes to graduate these in centimeters.

- Well, this has never been changed.

- Never been changed since the first test.

- Well, there certainly have been some attempts to change this, hasn't there, by other scientists and chemists?

- Well, it's been tested all over the world and the relation between the graduated scale and the amount of milk has never been changed.

- Well, it's quite unusual for one thing to last for 40 years, don't you think?

- Babcock: I think so, yes. That's the one thing that I'm more proud of than anything else in this invention.

- Dr., what acid did you use? How'd you get this reaction again?

- Babcock: I used sulfuric acid, using the same amount of concentrated sulfuric acid as there is in milk. The sulfuric acid holds all of the constituents of the milk and solution, except the fat. And it not only does that, but it warms up the mixture to a point where no external heating is necessary. 

- And then you repeat. You read the fat in the bottle like just exact?

- Babcock: If I use the calipers I can get the [inaudible] at the top and [inaudible] at the bottom for the percent. For instance, on this bottle, taking the division [inaudible] on the calipers [inaudible].

- Well now, Dr., in relation to the testing of cows, when was the chemical test first officially used, as far as you remember on getting at the percent of fat in the cow's milk?

- Babcock: Long before my time.

- An actual test, I mean, in this country?

- The first of the chemical tests that applied to the testing of cows was that the herd of Frederic Bronson, president of the Jersey Cattle Club at Southford, Connecticut.

- Well, before the chemical test was made, some of those records were quite high, were they not?

- Babcock: Some of them were incredible. In one test, it was claimed that a pound of butter was made from less than three-and-a-half pounds of milk. It was that test which induced the station at Cleveland as to advocate a chemical test.

- And you made one of the first tests that was made?

- The first test was made as the herd of Frederic Bronson, who was the president of the Jersey Cattle Co.

- I want to congratulate you, Dr., on this achievement that you made some forty years ago. It's hard to estimate the value of this test to the industry. This industry of ours, as you know, has grown, within your lifetime, from an insignificant chore on the farm to a three billion dollar industry. Your test has played a most important role in this development. Even with to consideration of our Breed Association, all the testing work is based upon your test that you have given the world. Appreciate very much the fact that you could have made millions out of this test, but you have chosen to give it to your fellow man as a gift.

I have brought to you a message from the Secretary of Agriculture. And with your permission I will read it. "Dear Dr. Babcock, on this, the 40th anniversary of your discovery of the test now known the world over as a Babcock Test, I wish to convey to you, on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture, an expression of our profound appreciation of the service you have rendered to humanity by your invention. The Babcock Test has been of incalculable value to the dairy industry and those who realize its significance are not unmindful of the fact that you gave it freely to the world. There is nothing we can say now in any way commensurate with the service that you have rendered, but we can at least assure you of the unbounded affection and honor of your contemporaries and of their faith in your undying fame. Sincerely yours, Arthur M. Hyde, Secretary of Agriculture."

- Thank you.  

[stir stick scraping glass]  

- In other words, he was true to the exacting code of the scientist. As a result, he gave us the exact measure of the butterfat in milk. Something a dairyman must know in order to tell which cows are profitable and which are not. And he gave us an exact method for determining the commercial value of milk, which is now generally priced according to its butterfat content.  

[centrifuge spinning loudly]