1076 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



1907 was as follows: Specific gravity 1.0322, total solids 12.G9 per cent, and 

 fat 3.75 per cent "As has been generally observed, the fat was lowest in June, 

 and highest in November. Low solids-not-fat occurred in July and August, but 

 the average was scarcely so low as in former years. The average amount of 

 fat — 3.75 per cent — is slightly higher than has been found for the past three 

 years, and during the later mouths of 1007 the milk was distinctly better than 

 the average." 



A discussion of a study of the relation between the aldehyde figure aud the 

 protein of milk and between the aldehyde figure aud the acidity of milk is 

 included. 



Action of acid phosphates of potassium and sodium on th.e coagulation of 

 milk by rennet, C. Gkrber {Comijt. Rend. »S'oc. Biol. [Paris], 67/ (I'JOS), A'O. 3, 

 pij. l^l-l'/S). — The differences between raw aud boiled milk, with respect to the 

 action of acid phosphate of sodium or potassium on coagulation by rennet, lead 

 the author to query whether the antifermeuts that some investigators have 

 reported in raw milk aud to which they attributed the nature of a diasta.se are 

 not simply the albumiu and the globulin of the ulilk. 



Yoghurt, Bulgarian sour milk, A. Luerssen and M. KtJHN {Centbl. Bakt. 

 [etc.], 2. Abt., 20 {1908), 'So. 8-9, pp. 23^-2^1 ; uhs. in Cliem. ZenthL, 1908, I, 

 ~So. 6, p. 5Jf7). — In addition to a review of the present knowledge regai-ding 

 yoghurt, the authors rei)ort some investigations in which tests were made of 

 yoghurt ferment obtained from different sources. The morphological aud bio- 

 logical characteristics of three yoghurt bacteria, BaciUus hithjaricns, a .spore- 

 forming bacillus, and a diplostreptococcus, isolated by the investigators, are 

 described. In experiments, which the authors made upon themselves, on the 

 acclimatization of the yoghurt bacteria, these organisms did not colonize in 

 the intestines and did not drive out the intestinal bacteria. In the authors' 

 opinion the use of milk soured with pure cultures as an article of diet for side 

 persons and also in ordinary life may be recommended, but claims for its specific 

 healing action should be accepted with caution. 



The influence of lactic ferment on the intestinal flora of mice, J. Belo- 

 NOVSKY {Ann. Inst, rasteur, 21 {1901), Ao. Li, pp. 99 1-1 00.',) .—The exiieri- 

 ments reported show a very considerable modification of the intestinal flora 

 of mice fed on grain that had been sterilized aud inoculated with " Bulgarian 

 fermeut" (organisms isolated from yoghurt; see above abstract). There was 

 a " decrease in the number of bacteria, a general transformation of the flora, 

 diminution of the power of producing putrefaction, and in the virulence of the 

 excreta. The action of the ferment can not be attributed exclusively to the 

 production of lactic acid; products secreted by the bacteria also play a con- 

 siderable part. The ferment becomes acclimated in the intestine after a cer- 

 tain period, and when it is no longer administered remains for some time in 

 the intestine. Cultures made in milk exercised a beneficial action upon the 

 mice infested with bacteria of Danysz, but this action was due exclusively to 

 lactic acid." 



The thermal death points of pathogenic micro-organisms in milk, M. J. 

 Rosenau {Pub. Health and Mar. llosp. Scrv. U. S., Hiju. Lab. Bui. Ji2, pp. 85, 

 fig. 1). — The author states that the temperature at which milk should be 

 pasteurized depends on the thermal death points of the pathogenic organisms 

 which contaminate it. Those most frequently found in market milk are the 

 organisms causing tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, dysen- 

 tery, and Malta fever, none of which have resisting spores. According to the 

 results of the investigations reported, milk heated to 60° C. and maintained at 

 that temperature for 20 minutes may^be considered safe so far as conveying 

 infection with any of these micro-organisms is concerned. 



