BACTERIA AND THEIR RELATION TO DAIRYING. 21 



became impossible to produce first-class, fine-flavored butter 

 in the dairy of the estate in spite of the fact that the butter- 

 making was conducted with every possible care and ac- 

 cording to the same method as before. 



The milk was evidently not diseased when drawn from 

 the udder, but on standing for a time it invariably assumed 

 a putrid smell and taste, which even reappeared in the 

 butter made from the milk. The accident of course 

 caused the loss of large sums of money to the owner, the 

 product of butter from the estate being very large. The 

 best dairy experts were consulted, but their directions were 

 of no avail. It was then suspected that the cause of the 

 evil was of a bacteriological nature, and Professor C. 0. 

 Jensen, the bacteriologist at the Copenhagen experiment 

 station, was called in to investigate the matter. After 

 having carefully studied the case he ascertained that the 

 rapid spoiling of the milk was caused by a single small 

 bacterium which had infected all the places where the 

 milk was handled. He showed that the small disastrous 

 organism had spread not only over the barn, where it 

 was even found on the udders of the cows, but also all 

 over the dairy. He isolated the bacterium and made it 

 the object of lengthy investigations. By introducing 

 cultures of it into sterilized milk he brought about the 

 same peculiar changes which characterized the diseased 

 milk at Duelund. 



The organism which caused so much harm and loss 

 proved, however, comparatively harmless, thanks to its 

 poor power of resistance. It dies at as low a temperature 

 as 149 F. (65 C.), and besides may be killed by means of 

 ordinary disinfectants. After a disinfection of barn and 



