122 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [April 



able that similar methods will soon he introduced in the 

 cheese-making industry. A recent English publication, 

 which I have not yet seen, is entitled Bread, Bakehouses, 

 and Bacteria. It will, no doubt, be found to contain 

 information of practical value to those engaged in 

 bread-making. 



Pasteur's studies relating to the micro-organisms 

 causing abnormal and injurious fermentations in wines, 

 the results of which he published in 1886 {Etudes 

 sur le Vin, ses Maladies, etc.), have resulted in an enor- 

 mous saving to the wine-making industry in France and 

 other countries where wine is produced upon a large 

 scale; and his investigations relating to the cause and 

 prevention of the infectious diseases of the silkworm, 

 which threatened to destroy the silk industry in France, 

 have resulted in even greater benefits to the material 

 interests of his country and of the world (published in 

 1870). 



Agricultural chemists predict that in the near future 

 cultures of the nitrifying bacteria of the soil will be made 

 on a large scale for the use of farmers, who will add 

 them to manures for the purposes of fixing the am- 

 monia, or perhaps will distribute them directly upon the 

 soil. Should this prove to be a successful and economic 

 procedure, the extent of the interests involved will make 

 it a "practical result" of the first importance. Another 

 application of our recently acquired knowledge which 

 has already proved useful to farmers in certain parts of 

 Europe relates to the destruction of field mice by distrib- 

 uting in the grain fields bread moistened with a culture 

 of a bacillus which causes a fatal infectious disease among 

 these little animals. 



In Greece, in Hungary, and in other parts of Europe 

 the quantity of grain consumed by field mice constitutes 

 a very serious loss. Recent experiments made with cul- 

 tures of two diff"erent bacilli {Bacillus typhi murium of 



