much whey and ripening soon ; while the increased heat produces a firm curd and a solid slow-ripening cheese. After due coagulation the curd is broken, and by a variety of manipulative processes as much as possible of the whey is drained away, and the curd is reduced to comparatively dry crumbly fragments. At this stage, sometimes, but not frequently, the curd is salted ; it is then collected into a clean cheese-cloth, placed in a cheese vat of the form and size of the cheese to be made, and submitted to pressure in the cheese press. While in the press it is frequently turned, a good deal of whey meantime continuing to exude ; and it is found that the amount of pressure has much influence on the solidity and rate of ripening of the cheese. As soon as a sufficient skin has formed on the cheese to preserve its shape, it is removed from the press and salted by repeated rubbings of salt over its surface. The cheese is then put aside in a clean, cool, airy situation for ripening, a process which takes a variable period according to the quality of the cheese, its method of preparation, and
other circumstances.The ripening of cheese is the result of a slow process of decay caused by a spontaneous fermentative action. In hard, solid, poor cheeses it acts very slowly, while in those which contain butter in large proportions its action is very energetic, and they cannot be preserved for any considerable period. Cheese when newly made has an acid reaction, but by degrees from without inwards the acid reaction becomes less apparent, and the cheese ripens. A portion of the casein suffers decomposition, evolving ammonia and amrnoniacal bases which neutralize the acid of the cheese. In a similar way the fat is partly decomposed, and the resulting fatty acids also combine with the ammonia evolved by the casein. When this action is allowed to proceed too far the cheese becomes alkaline, putrefactive decay ensues, free ammonia is evolved, an offensive odour is produced, and sometimes even poisonous compounds are formed. A satisfactory indication of ripening found in Stilton and other rich cheeses is the appearance of a green mould, streaked throughout the mass, produced by the fungus Aspergillus glaucus. A red mould also develops from Sporendonema Casei, and when the ripening becomes advanced the cheese-mite, Acarus domesticus, is produced with great rapidity in inconceivable numbers.
In England the milk of cows only is used in the manu facture of cheese. Excluding the so-called cream cheeses a preparation of a soft buttery consistence made from cream gently pressed, which must be used new and fresh, British cheese may be divided into three classes: 1st, that made with whole milk plus cream ; 2d, that made with whole milk ; and 3d, that made with milk minus cream, or skim-milk. Stilton and double Gloucester belong to the first class, being made of morning milk to which the cream of the previous evening s milking is added. Whole milk cheeses are represented by single Gloucester, Cheshire, Cheddar, and Dunlop ; and the ordinary country cheese used by the labouring classes represents the third class. It must, how ever, be understood that all gradations in richness are met with in cheese, as seen by the table below, and that quality depends on other circumstances besides proportion of butter. Of foreign cheese imported into Great Britain, the most important in point of quantity and value is American ; and since the introduction of the factory system of cheese- making in the United States, this has greatly improved in quality and become an important and extensive article of commerce. A large quantity of cheese, both fat and poor, is also made and exported from Holland. Parmesan cheese and Gruyere cheese, which are highly relished on account of their flavour, are skim-milk products, the former being coloured and artificially flavoured with saffron. The celebrated French Roquefort cheese is made from ewe s milk, and matured in the caves of Roquefort, where a uniform low temperature is found throughout the year. The accompanying table, compiled from various sources, gives the average composition of the principal kinds of cheese at present known in commerce:—
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Water. Casein. Fat. Milk- Sugar, <fcc. Ash and common Salt. Stilton 20-27 33-45 43 98 2 20 Cheshire 32-59 26-06 32-51 4-53 4 31 Cheddar 30-32 28-18 35-53 1 66 4 31 Double Gloucester 33-41 27-75 32-69 2 23 3-92 Single Gloucester 36-50 25-75 28-75 4-68 4-32 Wiltshire 39-22 34-22 19-26 2-28 5 02 Dunlop 38-46 25-87 31-86 8 81 Ordinary Skim-milk 39-43 30-37 27-08 0-22 2 90 American 27-29 25-87 35-41 6 21 5 22 Dutch (Gouda) 36-10 29-43 27-54 6 94 Camembert 51-94 18 90 21-05 4 40 4 71 Parmesan 27-56 44-08 15-95 6 69 5 72 Gruyere 40-00 Sl 50 24-0 1-5 3 00 Brie 45-25 18-48 25-73 4-94 5"61 Roquefort 34-55 26-52 30-14 3 72 5 -67 Neufchatel (Cream Cheese) 36-58 8-00 40-71 15-80 0-51
As an article of food cheese is used in a double capacity. Rich cheese in an advanced stage of ripeness is eaten in small quantities partly on account of its piquancy, and partly also as a digestive stimulant. Skim-milk cheese, and all the varieties poor in fat, again, are valuable articles of food on account of their high percentage of nitrogenous matter, and the cheaper qualities are, on this account, extensively consumed among the classes by whom other animal food is not usually obtainable. As an article of ordinary diet, cheese labours under the disadvantage of being hard of digestion ; and especially when it is toasted, as is frequently the practice, it really is, as has been observed, about as digestible as leather." According to Dr Trankland s experiments, the maximum amount of force produced by the complete oxidation of 1 ft of Cheshire cheese within the human body is 2704 foot-tons.
The imports of cheese into Great Britain during the year 1875 amounted to 1,626,413 cwt., of an estimated value of 4,705,229 ; of this quantity about one-half was imported from the United States and one-fourth came from Holland. Of course the imports only represent a small proportion of the total quantity consumed.
a Carnivorous Mammal belonging to the family Felidae, but exhibiting in form and habits such a mixture of feline and canine characteristics as have led naturalists to regard it as a transition form between the cat and dog groups. Unlike the typical Felidce, its head is short and round, its legs elongate and slender, and the flesh tooth of the upper jaw thin and longitudinally compressed. Its claws, being only partially retractile, get blunted by exposure to the surface of the ground, and so are less adapted to the purely feline mode of capturing prey. The cheetah attains a length of 3 to 4 feet, is of a pale fulvous colour, marked with numerous spots of a deep black on the upper surface and sides, and is nearly white beneath. The fur is some what crisp, altogether lacking the sleekness which charac terizes the fur of the typical cats. Its tail is long and some what bushy at the extremity. In confinement it soon becomes fond of those who are kind to it, and gives evidence of its attachment in an open, dog-like manner. According to Mr Bennet (Tower Menageries) " the character of the cheetah seems to be entirely free from that sly and suspicious feeling of mistrust which is so strikingly visible in the manner and actions of all the cats, and which renders them so little susceptible of real or lasting attachment;"
and it is the opinion of the same writer that the cheetah
