the unctuous substance obtained from milk by churning. It was not till a late period that the Greeks became acquainted with butter. The Romans used it as a medicine, but not as food. According to Beckmann, the discovery of butter belongs neither to the Greeks nor to the Romans. The former, he thinks, derived their knowledge of butter from the Scythians, the Thracians, and Phrygians; and the latter from the people of Germany. For the process of butter-making, see DAIRY.

The ancient Christians of Egypt burnt butter in their lamps instead of oil; and in the Roman churches it was anciently allowed, during Christmas time, to burn butter instead of oil, on account of the great consumption of the latter at that season.

in the old chemistry, was the term applied to various preparations; as butter of antimony (sesquichloride of antimony); butter of arsenic (sublimated muriate of arsenic); butter of bismuth (sublimated muriate of bismuth); butter of tin (sublimated muriate of tin); butter of zinc (sublimated muriate of zinc).