Causes of Mastitis. 



erythrit and adonit. Their action is different towards saccharose, raffinofe, sorbose and 

 dulzit, and this differentiation is utilized to separate the groups into those which do not 

 attack any of the mentioned bodies, those which ferment all four, those which split up 

 dub it and sorbose, and finally those splitting up saccharose and raffinose. Of course 

 bacteria cannot be strictly separated by their fermentative action, since in the cultivation 

 of colon strains in sugar-containing media they may acquire the faculty of fermenting a 

 kind of sugar towards which they formerly were refractory (Twort, Massini). Through 

 the first group the colon bacteria approach the more dangerous group of Bacillus para- 

 typhus B., Bacillus enteritidis of Gartner and paracolon bacteria with their related 

 organisms, for instance the Bacillus raiin. Bacillus suipesiifer, B. typhi murium, etc. 

 These dangerous groups may be separated by agglutination into three classes, the 

 Bacillus enteriiidis Gartner group, the Bacillus paratyphus B. group, and finally the 

 Paracolon group. 



Weichel succeeded in isolating from two cases of severe sep- 

 tic mastitis an organism belonging to the group of Bacillus enteri- 

 tidis, and another to the Bacillus paratyplius-B. 



Excluding the inflammatory products which may also possess 

 disease-producing properties in this group of mastitis forms, it is 

 necessary to exercise special care in the inflammations of the ud- 

 der caused by the Coli-eiiteritidis-paratyplius-paracoli organisms, 

 since among the representatives of this group of bacteria there are 

 those which may produce severe forms of enteritis in man, with 

 symptoms of poisoning, which are known in general as meat poi- 

 soning. True paratyphus bacteria may also enter the milk in other 

 ways than with the secretion of an infected quarter, for instance 

 through bacilli-carriers who are employed for handling the milk, 

 through the rinsing water, and also from other sources. It will be 

 of interest to mention here the results of examinations of market 

 milk for the occurrence of Bacillus paratyphus-B. 



Uhlenhuth and Hiibener twice found paratyphus in 100 sam- 

 y>les, while Hiibener in 40 samples of market milk noted this bacil- 

 lus 4 times and in 30 other samples of market milk, observed it 

 3 times. 



Klein in 39 mixed milk samples found the Bacillus enteritidis 

 9 times. 



The occurrence of coli-aerogenes bacteria in milk would be 

 something very ordinary, and would be considered less injurious 

 for the health than the presence of varieties which are known as 

 toxin producers. 



Nevertheless the coli-aerogenes infections of the udder should 

 be considered with the greatest care ; although in general the enter- 

 itidis and paratyphus varieties produce severe septic inflammations 

 with ichorous secretions and frequently with a fatal termination, 

 the severity of mastitis and the appearance of the secretion are by 

 no means a certain indication of the character of the infection. 



Mixed milk to which the secretion from animals with acute af- 

 fections of the udder has been added, is spoiled according to the 

 pure food act, and should be considered as capable of injuring 

 human health. 



The milk of healthy quarters from such infected udders is also 



