vi] 2Tff BACTERIA O 



Struve found the kephir grains contained 51 '69 

 per cent of albuminoids and 3'99 per cent of 

 fat. 



Nature of Kephir Fermentation. Although the 

 exact nature of the kephir fermentation is not 

 known, there can be little doubt that it is a very 

 complicated one. It is certainly not, as was at first 

 believed, a simple case of the alcoholic fermentation 

 of milk-sugar by means of yeast fungi ; although it 

 has been found that certain kinds of yeast, present in 

 kephir grains, are able to produce alcoholic ferment- 

 ation. The number of fermentative products present 

 in kephir shows that a number of micro-organisms 

 are active in the process, some of them giving rise 

 to alcohol, others to peptone and a variety of 

 acids and other bodies, and others coagulating the 

 casein. 



Koumiss. Although not exactly identical with 

 kephir, koumiss is of a similar nature. In the steppes 

 of Eussia, where it has been long used, it is generally 

 prepared, not from cow's milk, but from mare's milk. 

 It is, like kephir, a foaming liquid, resembling 

 butter-milk or sour whey. It differs from kephir 

 slightly in composition, and from the fact that, while 

 kephir may be made direct from cow's milk, koumiss 

 can only be made after the addition of a little cane- 

 sugar. The following is an analysis of koumiss 

 (Fleischmann) : 



