DISEASE GERMS IN MILK IO7 



already mentioned, and none of them can probably be attributed 

 to any particular type of bacteria. Delepine has concluded 

 that they are sometimes due to bacteria of the type of B. coli, 

 found in the faecal matter 1 . The organism that he thinks is the 

 cause differs from the ordinary B. coli in producing a small 

 amount of acid and in not curdling the milk, and is frequently 

 distributed by milk. Lameris has concluded that diarrhea may 

 be produced by a Streptococcus that comes from the udders of 

 cows suffering from mastitis, and inflamed udders have cer- 

 tainly been known to produce milk that gives rise to diarrhea. 2 

 It has been shown that such milk may still produce the trouble, 

 even after boiling, and this and other general facts have led to 

 the belief that this type of disease is of a toxic rather 

 than a bacterial nature. 3 By this is meant that the direct 

 cause is some substance of a poisonous nature that is 

 swallowed with food or drink, and directly poisons the in- 

 dividual. This does not mean that bacteria are not the real 

 agents, but that they act in an indirect way. In the case of 

 tuberculosis the germs enter the body and live within the living 

 tissues as parasites, but in the toxic diseases the bacteria grow 

 in the food or drink, and there produce poisons. When these 

 foods are subsequently swallowed they, with their poisons, will 

 be absorbed from the digestive tract and cause a direct poison- 

 ing. If this is true, it will follow that toxic poisoning would 

 result from the use of food only after bacteria have had an 

 opportunity to develop sufficiently to produce their toxins. It 

 would follow, therefore, that their frequency would be pro- 

 portionate with the number of certain species of bacteria in the 

 foods. 



With these facts in mind the relation of such troubles to 

 milk becomes suggestive. While there are other sources for 



1 Delepine. Jour, of Hyg., p. 68, 1903. 



2 Lameris. Zeit. f. Fleisch u. Milch Hyg., xi., p. 114, 1900. 

 'Groning. Inaug. dis., Bern, 1901. 



