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Show GAVE FORTUNE TO PUBLIC Dr. Stephen Moulton Babcock, to whom the Dairy Industry owes a debt of gratitude, is gone. He passed as a wealthy man in the regard of his fellows, though he was not weaJthy in the world's goods. In commenting on his passing, the Oaklund Tribune, a Pacific Coast daily, writes: "He could have been a millionaire but he turned aside great wealth and lived, to eighty-seven years, on the modest salary of a university professsor. "Stephen Moulton Babcock, of the University of Wisconsin, revolutionized the dairy industry in 1890 by discovering a simple method of determining the butterfat content of milk. Had he patented pat-ented this test, whidh is known by his name the world over, he could hae made millions. But Babcock was a professor. He believed be-lieved that he was paid by the state to undertake research work as well as teach, and he gave his invention to the public. 'Weren't the people of the state taxed to pay my salary?' he asked. 'Why should I get more?' "A modest and useful old gentleman who might have been worth many millions, was Dr. Babcock who died at eighty-seven, and after he had spent a full day's work in his laboratory." Pacific Paci-fic Dairy Reveiw. |