1894 . THE MICROSCOPE. 103 



do not sour the milk or cream. This, of course, indicates 

 that it is possible to obtain a proper result by the use of 

 a large variety of bacteria cultures, and that the peculiar 

 aroma of a good quality of butter is a general decom- 

 position product and not one due to any specific bacteria 

 species. It is also a matter of interest that it is not 

 found necessary to destroy all of the bacteria present in 

 the cream before the addition of the artificial ferment. 

 In many of the experiments, indeed in a majority of 

 those in large creameries, it has only been found neces- 

 sary to add to the cream ready for ripening a large quan- 

 tity of the artificial culture, and the large quantity added 

 will find the conditions in the cream such that they can 

 grow rapidly enough to entirely outweigh the eff'ects 

 produced by the slower growth of other species that may 

 be present. Consequently in the experiments in our 

 creameries it has only been found necessary to collect 

 the cream and then to add a considerably large quantity 

 of an artificial ferment thereto and the proper result is 

 obtained at once. 



Of course this work is wholly new, but the success 

 that has attended the experiments where they have been 

 tried is so great as to give us almost certainty that a few 

 years further will see in the dairy industry a new appli- 

 cation of the microscope to practical life. The manu- 

 facture of these artificial ferments will some day be a 

 commercial industry, and is an operation involving more 

 or less use of the microscope. The discovery of the fer- 

 ments and their action upon dairy products is, of course, 

 wholly due to modern microscopical methods, and thus 

 we find here a new and entirely unexpected use of the 

 modern microscope. 



Potassium permanganate is a newly discovered antidote to 

 potassium cyanide. Administer one-half litre of a three to five 

 per cent solution internally. 



