128 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



milk showed 7,600 bacteria per cubic centimetre, 

 while the carefully secured milk only had 210 in 

 the same volume. In each of these instances the 

 milk secured with greater care remained sweet over 

 twenty-four hours longer than the ordinary milk." 



An organism which has exceptional opportunities 

 for finding its way into cows' milk is the Bacillus 

 coli communis, normally present in the faeces of all 

 animals. This microbe is a very undesirable ad- 

 junct to milk, and may greatly interfere with the 

 souring process, by multiplying extensively, and 

 so producing a change in the milk which renders 

 it impossible for the particular souring bacteria to 

 carry on their work, resulting in their collapse and 

 ultimate extinction. But this is not the only 

 injurious effect which these Coli bacilli can pro- 

 duce in milk, for there is a growing conviction 

 that their presence is responsible for many in- 

 testinal disturbances with which young children 

 are specially troubled. Quite recently determina- 

 tions of the bacterial contents of cow-dung have 

 been made, and it has been ascertained that a 

 single gramme* freshly collected, of this material 

 may contain as many as 375,000,000 bacteria, of 

 which the majority were found to be the above 

 undesirable organism, the B. coli communis. 



* One gramme =15 grains. 



