1896.1 MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 185 



animals wore not groomed, the cowsheds were not flushed 

 with water sooften as they oug-ht to be; the hands and clot hi ng- 

 of the milkers were not properly attended to, nor were the 

 teats of the udder cleaned. In Novemljer, IS'H, ex])eri- 

 ments were beg^un in Edinburg-h, and continued until now. 

 More than 300 samples of milk were examined from 50 

 dairies, widely scattered over the city. It was found that 

 at three hours after milking- there were, on an averag-e per 

 cubic centimetre, in winter 24,700 bacteria, in sprinj^ and 

 early summer 44,000, and in late summer and autumn 173,- 

 000. It was found that in dairies supplied by milk from 

 the country the averaf^e number of micro-org-anisms five 

 hours after milking- was 41,000 per cubic centimetre, while 

 in dairies supplied by milk from towm daries the averag-e 

 was 352,000 per cubic centimetre. This fact illustrated 

 the importance of having- cowsheds outside of the city. In 

 discussing- the various methods of sterilising- milk, it was 

 pointed out that the g-reat objection to the use of sterilised 

 milk was the chang-e of its flavor and, according- to manv, 

 its decreased dig-estibility. The conclusions were that 

 milk kept for one hour at 212 deg-rees, in bottles hermet- 

 ically sealed remained sterile for more than a month, and 

 was quite sweet and palatable, thoug-h it had a boiled taste; 

 that milk heated by means of Dr. Cathcart's apparatus re- 

 mained quite sterile for forty-eig-ht hours, thoug-h the 

 boiled taste was marked; that milk kept for thirty minutes 

 at 158 deg-rees, Fahr., was quite sterileatthe end of twenty- 

 four hours, aud contained very few microbes at the end of 

 forty-eig-ht hours. In all these three methods the micro- 

 org-anisms of tubercle and diphtheria were certainly killed. 

 Scalding- at 176 deg-rees, Fahr., withevery precaution, kept 

 the milk sterile for twenty-four hours; but in carrying- out 

 this process on a larg-e scale, there was considerable risk 

 of post-scalding- contamination, so that there was no g-uar- 

 antee that the bacillus of tubercle and diphtheria, if pre- 

 sent, was destroyed. — Enj^lish Mechanic. 



The Fate of Micro-organisms in Inspired Air. — Thomp- 

 son and Hewlett (British Medical Journal, Jan. 18, 18%) 



