BACTERIA IX ARTICLES OF FOOD. 



669 



dence that this disease lias been spread by the use of contaminated 

 milk, as have also diphtheria and typhoid fever, which diseases are 

 due to bacilli now well known. As the cholera spirillum grows 

 readily in milk, this disease could no doubt also be transmitted in 

 the same way. 



Sedgwick and Batchelder (1892) have examined a large number 

 of specimens of milk obtained in Boston and vicinity, for the purpose 

 of determining the number of bacteria present. They found, as an 

 average of several trials, that milk obtained in a clean stable, from 

 a well-kept cow, by milking in the usual way into a sterilized bottle, 

 contained 530 bacteria per cubic centimetre. 'When, however, the 

 milkman used the ordinary milk pail of flaring form, seated himself 

 with more or less disturbance of the bedding, and vigorously shook 

 the udder over the pail during the usual process of milking,*' the 

 numbers were very much higher on an average 30,500 per cubic 

 centimetre immediately after milking. The average of fifteen sam- 

 ples taken from the tables of persons living in the suburbs of Boston 

 was 09,143 per cubic centimetre. The average of fifty-seven sam- 

 ples of Boston milk, obtained directly from the milk wagons and 

 plated at once, was 2,355,500 per cubic centimetre. The average of 

 sixteen samples from groceries in the city of Boston was 4,577,000 

 per cubic centimetre. 



Prof. Eenk found in the milk supply of Halle from 6,000,000 to 

 oU, 000, 000 bacteria per cubic centimetre a number considerably ex- 

 ceeding that usually found in the sewage of American cities (Sedg- 

 wick). 



Cohn and Neumann (1801) have shown that the milk of healthy 

 women frequently contains bacteria, and that Staphylococcus pyo- 

 genes albus is the species most frequently found. This has been 

 confirmed by the researches of Palleske (1892), Ringel (1893) and 

 others. The last-mentioned author examined the milk of 25 women 

 recently confined, "12 of whom were healthy and 13 sick." In 3 

 cases only was the milk sterile; in 17 cases Staphylococcus pyogenes 

 albus was found; in 2 cases Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus; in 1 

 case both albus and aurens ; in 2 cases Staphylococcus pyogenes albus 

 and Streptococcus pyogenes. The streptococci were found in a case 

 of mild puerperal fever and in a case of phlebitis. 



The researches of Hirshberger (1889), of Ernst (1895), and of 

 others show that the milk of tuberculous cows may contain tubercle 

 bacilli even when the udder of the animal presents no evidence of a 

 localized tubercular infection. In 121 samples of milk examined by 

 Ernst from 36 different cows, 19 gave a positive result; all from the 

 milk of 12 cows in which no evidence of tuberculosis of the udder 

 was found in a carefully made post-mortem examination. Among 



