24 Colonel David Bruce [Jan. 24, 



MiCEOcocci m Goat's Milk. 



Some thousands of goats in Malta were then examined, and the 

 astounding discovery was made that 50 per cent, of the goats re- 

 sponded to the agglutination test, and that actually 10 per cent, of 

 them were secreting the micrococci in their milk. 



Monkeys fed on milk from an affected goat, even for one day, 

 almost invariably took the disease. 



s.s. "Joshua Nicholson." 



At this time, curiously enough, an important experiment on the 

 drinking of goat's milk by man took place accidentally. Shortly, the 

 story is as follows : In 1905 the s.s. ' Joshua Nicholson,' shipped 



Fig. 6. — Growth of Milk on Agar Plate. 



sixty-five goats at Malta for export to America. The milk was drunk 

 in large quantities by the captain and the crew, with the result that 

 practically everyone who drank the milk was struck down by Malta 

 fever. 



Sixty of the goats (five having died) on arrival in America were 

 examined, and thirty-two found to give the agglutination reaction, 

 while the Micrococcus meliteusis was isolated from the milk of several 

 of them. This epidemic of Malta fever on board the s.s. ' Joshua 

 Nicholson ' therefore clinched the fact, that the goats of Malta act 

 as a reservoir of the virus of Malta fever, and that man is infected 

 by drinking the milk of these animals. 



