200 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Germany and in certain districts of Europe, but in this country the cases 

 are not so common. This trouble is due to a bacillus which grows very 

 rapidly in milk. With the formation of acid or the regular souring of 

 milk it gives a sky blue color; but if the milk remains sweet, it yields a 

 slaty appearance. The source of this bacillus is probably the filth which 

 contaminates the milk; yet its sudden appearance at times would lead to 

 other deductions. The germ is harmless in itself and yields no strongly 

 poisonous products. It has also been found in cheese and in such a case 

 yielding blue cheese. The most certain way of eradicating it is by care- 

 ful disinfection and cleaning. 



ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION. 



It is a common characteristic of many bacteria as well as yeasts to pro- 

 duce alcohol. This substance is widely distributed in various fermenta- 

 tions either as a resulting primary product, as in beer and wine fermen- 

 tations, or as a secondary product, in reality a by-product, in intestinal 

 fermentation. Many of the bacteria permanently resident in the intes- 

 tines will yield sufficient alcohol — during their process of development 

 in certain food preparations— to give a decided chemical reaction. The 

 alcohol usually is the result of the destruction of some carbohydrate — 

 that is sugars, starches and like substances. 



Milk sugar (lactose) may be converted into alcohol under favorable 

 conditions. The presence of the proper ferment is only required in con- 

 nection with a suitable temperature to change milk sugar into alcohol. 

 Although this fermentation has little practical significance for the dairy- 

 man, there are sections in which the alcoholic fermentation of milk is 

 of considerable value, inasmuch as the alcoholic milk is used as a drink 

 by the inhabitants. 



Koumys, milk wine or lac fermentatum, originally prepared from 

 mare's milk, but now from cow's milk as well, to which some sugar has 

 been added, has been used for hundreds of years in Asia and the name is 

 taken from the tribe which first employed it. Many sanitarians recom- 

 mend it because they regard it as more easily digested than the milk as 

 it comes from the udder. While alcohol is the chief product of fermenta- 

 tion, it must not be forgotten that lactic acid and acetic acid enter into its 

 composition. In wine fermentation there are several minor products as 

 fusel-oil, acetic acid, glycerin and others, so here we have analogous 

 secondary or by-products, and these by-products lend flavor to the taste. 



Kephir is a preparation made by the people of Caucasus and is made 

 from the milk of cows and sometimes of other animals. There seems to be 

 present in kephir fermentation three distinct fermentative agents: the 

 lactic acid ferment which produces a certain amount of lactic acid equal 

 usually to that of the alcohol; the yeast or alcoholic ferment which 

 makes the preparation an alcoholic drink; [Hammersten is made to say 

 by Fleischmann that out of 100,000 parts of kephir 727 parts are lactic 

 acid and 720 parts are alcohol,] and the peptonizing ferment which ren- 

 ders some of the casein soluble. Although the lactic acid and alcohol 

 come from the milk sugar, a good portion of the latter is left. 



The preparation is effected through the instrumentality of kephir- 

 grains which are yellow, hard, and about the size of a pea. These grains 



