Decomposition of Milk. o5 



\vhich tend towards its being curdly, be it either acid 

 or rennet curdling ; in most cases the acid bacteria 

 predominate in numbers, or, at least, their activity is 

 more readily noted. Aside from this acid-curdling, 

 and dependant on the proportion of the acid bacteria 

 to the rennet bacteria, we find that a rennet curdling 

 is going on later, simultaneously or even sooner, and 

 which, in most cases, is not noticeable because the acid 

 curdling has already been completed. Only in the 

 case where the number of rennet bacteria predomi- 

 nate by far, we see a curdling without previous acidu- 

 lating which happens in the "cheesy milk." These 

 rennet bacteria which are also commonly called 

 butter acid bacteria, because they generally possess 

 the property of producing butter acid play an im- 

 portant part in the keeping qualities of milk. While 

 we find it easy to counteract or retard the milk acid 

 fermentation, and thereby the acid curdling, we shall 

 see that it is connected with considerable difficulty to 

 avoid the rennet curdling by bacteria. 



From the foregoing, the reader should receive the 

 impression of the great importance of producing a 

 milk containing the smallest possible number of bac- 

 teria, as upon this depends the success of manufac- 

 turing it into normal infants' milk, and, for this same 

 reason, it has been found unrecommeiidable to sepa- 

 rate the agricultural part, the production of the cow's 

 milk, from the technical part ; the treatment we shall 

 describe later on. 



No manufacturer of infants' milk, no matter what 



