THE SOXHLET BOTTLE 157 



The danger incurred on this account is, however, slight, since this microbe only 

 forms spores in presence of oxygen, and therefore not within (the arterial circu- 

 latory system of) the animal body. Even in the worst case, therefore, only the 

 vegetative forms (easily destroyed by boiling) of this microbe can find their way 

 into the milk from the body of the cow ; and, on the other hand, the intro- 

 duction of these germs from external sources is hardly to be feared. According 

 to the researches of O. CAHO (I.), the virulence of spore-free forms of growth of 

 Bacillus anthracis in milk disappears within twenty-four hours at a temperature 

 of 15 C., a circumstance attributable to the injurious influence of the lactic 

 acid gradually formed in that liquid. The spores, however, completely retain 

 their vitality under these conditions. 



Among the bacteria present in unboiled milk, the species inducing lactic 

 fermentation are never lacking, and it is to these that the souring of milk is 

 due. The fact that they are destroyed by boiling explains why boiled milk will 

 keep, without alteration, a much longer time than is the case with unboiled milk. 

 In addition to the species already mentioned there is present a third group of 

 tSchizomycetes forming spores very tenacious of life, which withstand boiling, 

 and germinate when the milk is kept at a moderately warm temperature. The 

 resulting rods having, by the process of boiling, been freed from the presence of 

 sundry inconvenient associates of other species, then develop and increase 

 rapidly, setting up a brisk fermentation whereby a large volume of gas is 

 liberated. The importance and extent of this fact first becomes clear in the case 

 of suckling infants. 



124. The Soxhlet Bottle. 



With the continual extension of enervation the number of mothers unable 

 or unwilling to suckle their infants increases from year to year. How far the 

 natural nourishment thus withheld is superior, in point of chemical composition, 

 in the various periods of lactation to any artificial medley cannot be expounded 

 here. From the bacteriological standpoint it may be regarded as almost perfect. 

 If the mother be healthy in body, then the milk absorbed by the child at the 

 breast is, -according to the researches of T. RINGEL (I.) and others, almost entirely 

 free from bacteria of any kind. The expression "almost free" is used advisedly, 

 since the milk generally contains a small number, originating in the air and 

 making their way into the lacteal ducts of the mammary glands, where they 

 increase. The necessary hygienic treatment of this organ by the young mother 

 will greatly contribute to the child receiving the best nourishment both bac- 

 teriologically and otherwise. To return, however, to those other matrons who 

 bring up their infants on the bottle, filled with boiled and sufficiently cooled 

 milk. The stomach of the young child being small, whereas the amount of 

 material required for the growing body is large, the infant requires frequent 

 supplies of small quantities of nourishment. Generally, for the sake of con- 

 venience, a sufficient quantity of milk for the whole day is boiled at once, portions 

 of this being taken from time to time as required. Through ignorance on the 

 part of the mother, or by the carelessness of the nurse, it often happens that 

 this food is supplied to the infant in a partially decomposed condition. A parti- 

 cular fault, frequently committed, is that the bottle, which has been lying for two 

 or three hours in the warm nursery, is refilled from the vessel containing the bulk, 

 without the residual milk from the preceding meal having been removed. That 

 such carelessness (frequent, though as constantly denied) must conduce to diges- 

 tive disorders requires no further demonstration, the high rate of infant mortality 

 from intestinal catarrh being sufficient evidence. 



For this reason it has been attempted to render milk stable by boiling it in 

 small bottles, holding just sufficient for a meal, and closing the same with a 



