i»95- 



SOME NEW BOOKS. 357 



must provide the starting point for all the higher classificatory 

 groups, this admission may lead us a long way. 



G. H. Carpenter. 



Dairy Bacteriology. 

 Dairy Bacteriology. A Short Manual for the Use of Students in Dairy Schools, 



Cheesemalvers, and Farmers. By Dr. Ed. von Freudenreich, Translated by 



J. R. Ainsworth Davis. Pp. 115. London : Methuen & Co., 1895. Price 2s. 6d. 

 Pasteurisation of Milk and Cream for Direct Consumption. University of 



Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin no. 44. 8vo. Pp. 48. 



Madison, Wisconsin, 1895. 

 There is no room for dispute as to the advantage of a knowledge of 

 at least the elements of bacteriology in the case of those who manage 

 dairies. For long it has been a reproach to England that her dairy 

 produce is inferior to that of Scotland, and, still more to that of 

 Denmark and Sweden, of Switzerland and of France. This defect 

 is partly due to the dense stupidity of the average English farmer, a 

 stupidity that would have caused his ruin in any other occupation, 

 and partly to the neglect of the pursuit of agriculture by successive 

 Governments. Every county in England has now the opportunity of 

 giving necessary instruction in dairy work, which, indeed, was one of 

 the trades by special clause permitted to be taught under the 

 Technical Instruction Acts. Many of the counties are taking ad- 

 vantage of their new opportunities, by instituting peripatetic dairy- 

 schools ; others are combining to aid or to establish agricultural 

 colleges of more pretentious character. Dr. Freudenreich's book 

 offers itself adroitly to the new dairymaid. 



The first thirty-five pages give a brief but adequate account 

 of bacteria, the manner of things they are, their habitat, Hfe-history, 

 and the methods of investigating them. The rest of the book is 

 purely pertinent to the dairy. Milk from a healthy cow when it 

 leaves the udder should be free from bacteria ; but as it forms a 

 cultivation medium almost ideal, it swarms with them in a few hours. 

 The forms most commonly found and the differences between patho- 

 genic and harmless bacteria are discussed sufficiently to impress 

 upon readers the necessity for the most careful attention to the 

 bacteriology of milk. Unfortunately, as the writer explains, there 

 are no methods of complete sterilisation that do not destroy, to some 

 extent, the delicate flavour of milk. On the other hand, the process 

 of Pasteurisation is both practicable and of considerable advantage. 

 As the writer shows, it destroys a certain number of germs and 

 retards the development of all for a considerable time. But the one 

 thing made plain, and for which alone the book should be in the 

 hands of all connected with dairies, is that the germs of pathogenic 

 bacteria can and should be prevented from ever gaining access to 

 milk. This is possible only by the isolation of all cases of infectious 

 diseases, and by the complete destruction of all contaminated things. 

 This, no doubt, is a matter more for local and central sanitary 

 authorities than for dairymen, but these must learn the dangers, and 

 the resulting necessity for active co-operation with sanitary authori- 

 ties. We have full confidence in recommending the book to all 

 persons interested. 



The valuable pamphlet from Wisconsin is a complete practical 

 treatise on the nature, advantages, and methods of the process of 

 Pasteurisation. In the process of sterilisation, milk must be 

 subjected to the temperature of boiling water for a prolonged period 

 or succession of periods. Such is the resisting action of spores and 



