166 IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



house underwent a few days after baking. About the same 

 time complaints were made by a number of residents of the 

 town regarding the same trouble. A number of inquiries were 

 also noticed in the magazines, devoted to the household, indi- 

 cating th3 trouble was present in other localities. Inquiry 

 among neighboring housekeepers showed that while most of 

 them had never heard of such a trouble with braad, a number 

 of them had seen the condition or known of someone who had 

 at some time been troubled. It occurs about as follows: After 

 the bread has been baked a few days, rarely before the third 

 day, but usually the fourth or fifth, a disagreeable odor and 

 taste is noticed which is usually described as musty or stale. 

 A few hours later if the cut surface of the bread is touched 

 with the finger it feels sticky, and may be observed to adhere 

 to the finger, forming short threads as the finger is removed. 

 By the following day the conditions are much worse, the odor 

 and ta'5te stronger, and the stringiness much more noticeable. 

 At times, when at its worst stage, a piece broken from the 

 loaf will remain attached by numerous fine threads until 

 removed a foot or more away. Occasionally a thread will 

 draw out three feet or more in length. A brownish-yellow 

 C3lor usually appears about twenty-four hours after the slimi- 

 ness is first present. Cases of greenish-black color have been 

 reported, while a few have observed no color at all in connec- 

 tion with the sliminess. In the latter cases it is probable that 

 the bread was destroyed before the color was produced. The 

 cases of greenish black discoloration did not come under my 

 observation, but it seems probably from the observations of 

 Uffelman that it was due to the presence of mould. 



An examination of a loaf just beginning to be stringy will 

 show that the condition appears first at the central part, but 

 later the same condition is found throughout the entire loaf. 

 The decomposition has in every stage advanced farther at the 

 center than near the crust. 



The abnormal condition under consideration is usually 

 assigned, by those who observe it, to lack of sufficient heat in 

 baking. The fact that the trouble in no case is present until 

 some time after baking, and then rapidly becomes worse, 

 shows the conditions of baking do not offer an explanation. 

 These facts rather suggest that the process is a fermentation 



• Gentralblatt fiir Bakterlologle, Bd. 8, 4fel. 



