822 Experiments 



Experiment CCCCXXVIII. January 20. Boiled milk, in tubes, 

 diluted with water. 



A, normal pressure. 



B, 21 superoxygenated atmospheres; tube drawn out in the flame. 

 The pressure falls repeatedly. 



January 25. Decompression made. 



May 17. A, foul odor; thick mold on the surface; liquid yellowish 

 with clots. 



B, very slight butyric odor, not disagreeable; acid; liquid very 

 white with lumps; a few globules of milk recognizable through the 

 microscope. 



Experiment CCCCXXIX. January 20. Milk with the addition of 

 a solution of soda. 



Experiment made at the same time as the preceding one. 



May 17. The milk which was not compressed has a foul odor; the 

 other has no odor. 



Experiment CCCCXXX. March 16. Boiled milk, in tubes. 



A, normal pressure. 



B, at 10 superoxygenated atmospheres, in the cylindrical glass 

 apparatus. 



March 18. The milk is clotting perceptibly at the same time in 

 A and in B. 



We see that for milk as for the other substances putrefaction 

 has been checked by compressed air; on the condition of giving 

 up corks and using exclusively tubes or matrasses closed with a 

 flame. 



But coagulation was not prevented, nor was rapid acidification; 

 these changes did not even seem delayed appreciably. A previous 

 strong alkalinization of the milk did not check them either; how- 

 ever, in this case, an evident delay resulted. 



Could it be that oxygen under high tension really has no effect 

 on the lactic vibriones discovered by M. Pasteur: Or could it be 

 that coagulation of milk is not the work of these microscopic beings, 

 but instead of some agent invulnerable to oxygen, as soluble fer- 

 ments are, as we shall see? 



Before giving an answer to these questions, I had to reflect on 

 the experimental cause of error revealed to me by my experiments 

 on blood. The thickness of the layers of the liquid which com- 

 pressed oxygen must saturate to carry out its destructive work 

 might play an important part here. 



I had to eliminate this harmful influence; and so I did, for ex- 

 ample, in the following experiments. 



