ABSTRACTS 567 



Some Observations on Causes of High Bacterial Counts in Milk. H. D. 

 Pease. (Amer. Jour, of Pub. Health, 1916, 6, 563-568.) 

 In parts of the country where adequate field and laboratory inves- 

 tigations of milk suppHes have been in operation high bacterial counts 

 are most generally caused through inefficiently cleaned apparatus, or 

 as a result of inefficient refrigeration. In locations where no super- 

 vision has been in operation and where the producers are more or less 

 slovenly, high bacterial counts may be attributed to definite dirty con- 

 ditions and are found even where the milk can be shown to have been 

 delivered promptly and with the application of a reasonable degree of 

 refrigeration. — D. G. 



Colo7i Bacteria and Streptococci and Their Significance in Milk. L. A. 



Rogers, W. M. Clark, and A. C. Evans. (Amer. Jour. PubHc 



Health, 1916, 6, 374-380.) 



The authors find that cultures (streptococci) isolated from infected 

 udders are characterized by weak fermentation of the simpler sugars 

 and an inability to ferment higher polysaccharides and alcohols, while 

 cultures from bovine feces may be distinguished by ability to ferment 

 polysaccharides and inability to attack alcohols. They believe that 

 the presence in lactose bile inoculated with milk and incubated at 

 37°C. of streptococci forming distinct chains is good presumptive evi- 

 dence of milk from infected udders. 



Bacteria of the colon group occurring in market milk may be di- 

 vided into two very distinct groups (1) that which agrees closely 

 with the characteristic colon bacillus of the bovine intestine, yielding 

 a low CO2 : H2 ratio ; (2) that which yields a high ratio ; numerous in 

 milk, but occurring very rarely in bovine intestine (1 out of 150 cultures). 



The surface of dried grains is found to be source of a number of types 

 of colon. That type occurring with greatest frequency probably cor- 

 responds to conception of B. laciis aerogenes, so that the ordinary pre- 

 sumptive tests and even the usual confirmatory tests are not necessarily 

 proof of the contamination of the milk with fecal matter. — D. G. 



DISINFECTION 



The Antiseptic Action of Ether in Peritoneal Infections. J. Saliba. 



(Jour. A. M. A., 1916, 66, 1295-1297.) 



The instillation of ether into the peritoneal cavity in infections by 

 streptococci and B. coli served as a safe and beneficial antiseptic. — G. 

 H. S. 



The Bactericidal and Fungicidal Action of Copper Salts. L. M. DeWitt 

 and Hope Sherman. (Jour. Infect. Diseases, 1916, 18, 368-382.) 

 The present study was initiated to ascertain (1) the killing power of 



the sulphate and chloride of copper and (2) their inhibiting action, on 



B. coli, B. typhi, B. prodigiosus, B. tuberculosis and Staph, aureus; 



also on species of yeast, Aspergillus and Penicillium. The results indi- 



