It possesses the property of absorption of odors in a curious degree; and if shut in a tight closet or a refrigerator with fish, meat, or vegetables of rank or even pronounced smell, exchanges its own delicate aroma for theirs, and reaches us bereft once for all of what is the real charm of perfect butter.

For this reason absolute cleanliness and daintiness of vessels containing milk or cream, or used in any way in the manufacture of butter, is one of the first laws of the dairy.
_Ghee_, the East-Indian form of butter, is simply fresh butter clarified by melting, and is used as a dressing for the meal of rice.

Butter, though counted as a pure fat, is in reality made up of at least six fatty principles, there being sixty-eight per cent of margarine and thirty per cent of oleine, the remainder being volatile compounds of fatty acids.

In the best specimens of butter there is a slight amount of caseine, not over five per cent at most, though in poor there is much more.

It is the only fat which may be constantly eaten without harm to the stomach, though if not perfectly good it becomes an irritant.
The _Drippings_ of roasted meat, more especially of beef, rank next in value; and _Lard_ comes last on the list, its excessive use being a serious evil.