Galactometer (Gr. gen.milk, andmeasure), an instrument for determining the specific gravity of milk. The common hydrometer may be used for this purpose, but a better instrument is that called the centesimal galactometer, invented by M. Dino-court. This is a glass tube made to float upright in the liquid, and surmounted with a stem upon which are two scales, one intended to be used in skim milk, the other in milk from which the cream has not been removed. The normal range of each quality is designated upon one of the scales, and the divisions above are intended to mark hundredths of water that has been added. Though the specific gravity of genuine milk commonly is found between 1.026 and 1.031, the determination of this is a very uncertain test of its purity. Cream being specifically lighter than milk, its removal leaves the fluid comparatively heavier; water might be added to this, and the specific gravity be thus brought to that of genuine milk. The instrument therefore should be used only in connection with another called the lactometer, the object of which is to determine the proportion of cream present.

This being known, and the specific gravity ascertained with the accuracy due to the graduation of the galactometer, the quality of the milk can be more correctly determined than by other instruments.

GALA6Ot See Lemur.