FOODS HUMAN NUTPJTIOISr. 61 



miles, the southern limit apparently being about 4 miles southeast of Bridge- 

 town. A committee has been appointed by the government of the island to 

 investigate and report upon the steps that should be taken to stamp out the 

 pest. 



Insecticides: Mixtures and recipes for use against insects in the field, 

 the orchard, the garden, and the house, H. Maxwell-Lefroy (Agr. Research 

 Infii. Pusa [J)idia] Bui. 23, J911, pp. 22, pis. 11). — A popular account including 

 illustrations of spraying apparatus and of the author's mosquito trap. 



FOODS— HUMAN NUTRITION. 



The bacteriology of eggs and egg products with special reference to 

 Bacillus coli, O. Mauueb (Kansas St a. Bill. ISO, pp. 333-3.'i.'i). — Eggs were ex- 

 amined for the presence of B. coli, the work being undertaken as a part of a 

 study of the economic aspects of the egg industry and particularly with ref- 

 erence to the deterioration of frozen and desiccated eggs. 



Sixty fresh clean eggs from 30 different hens, the eggs being collected twice 

 a day from trap nests, 50 eggs obtained from local farms, and 25 dirty eggs 

 obtained from a packing house were used. "These [dirty] eggs were at least 

 3 weeks old, and were fairly covered with droppings." The colon bacilli were 

 absent from the contents of all the eggs studied and from the shells of about 

 77 per cent of the clean eggs, and from 82 per cent of the farm eggs, but were 

 found on the shells of all of the dirty eggs. 



Experiments were made under a variety of conditions, including low tempera- 

 ture, with eggs smeared with feces (fecal bacteria) and egg and with a sus- 

 pension of B. prodigiosus. In general, the results indicated that the micro- 

 organisms under consideration did not penetrate the unbroken shells of the 

 eggs. 



Experiments also showed that concentrated egg albumin did not exercise any 

 bactericidal action upon B. coli, a result in harmony with that of other in- 

 vestigators. " Indeed, the presence of large numbers of colon bacilli in frozen 

 and desiccated eggs would be impossible if the egg possessed bactericidal 

 properties for this organism. 



" It seems, therefore, that the only explanation we can give for the absence 

 of B. coli from fresh eggs and from the oviduct is the lymphoid structure of 

 the mucosa of the oviduct. This probably causes the removal, by leucocytic 

 activity, of colon bacilli which have reached the oviduct, together with other 

 intestinal organisms." 



In general, the author concludes that fecal matter, which owing to the way 

 they are handled comes in contact with the egg contents when they are broken 

 and the yolk and white separated, is the source of the large number of colon 

 bacilli often present in egg preparations. 



" The bacterial content of canned eggs may be greatly reduced by separating 

 only clean eggs. All soiled eggs which either directly or indirectly might give' 

 rise to fecal contamination of the egg meat should be utilized without separat- 

 ing the white from the yolk. 



"[In preparing such egg products] the girls who break the eggs should wash 

 their hands whenever they come in "Contact with the contents of bad eggs or 

 with other contaminating material. The wash water should be used only once ; 

 indeed, a pail with water in which the girls frequently wash their hands 

 makes matters worse. The cups into which the eggs are broken, and all other 

 utensils that come in contact with the egg meat, should be washed in clean 

 water whenever touched by contaminating material. These should not have 

 any crevices, corners, etc., where material may accumulate, but should be as 



