590 BACTERIA IN ARTICLES OF FOOD. 



dence that this disease has 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 110 doubt also be transmitted in the 

 same way. 



Recently (1892) Sedgwick and Batchelder 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 samples 

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

 69,143 per cubic centimetre. The average of fifty-seven samples 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. Renk found in the milk supply of Halle from 0,000,000 

 to 30,000,000 bacteria per cubic centimetre a number considerably 

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

 wick). 



In fresh butter of good quality but few microorganisms are found, 

 but in " cheesy butter" having a disagreeable odor Kreuger has 

 found a great number of bacteria. Among these the most numerous 

 were an oval coccus, Micrococcus acidi lactici (Kreuger), a slender 

 bacillus closely resembling, and possibly identical with, the Bacillus 

 fluorescens, and the Bacillus acidi lactici of Hueppe. 



Duclaux (1887) has isolated from different kinds of cheese no 

 less than eleven different species of bacteria, which he believes are 

 concerned in the " ripening process." Seven of these are aerobic and 

 four anaerobic species. Adametz (1889) has also isolated and studied 

 a number of species to which he attributes the ripening of cheese. 



Meats, even when salted and smoked, may contain living patho- 

 genic bacteria which were present prior to the death of the animal, 

 and, when not properly preserved, are of course liable to be invaded 

 by putrefactive bacteria. 



The researches of Foster (1889) show that the typhoid bacillus, 

 the pus cocci, the tubercle bacillus, and the bacillus of swine plague 

 resist the action of a saturated solution of salt for weeks and even for 



