44* 



NATURE 



[February 6. 1919 



shown b) t lit- experimental results obtained, ilie 

 rats being conducted in many instances in 

 in, li (;in only be described as filthy, 

 hirst, with regard to the small-top pail; this 

 is .1 pail with a lid covering;, say, two-thirds of 

 the top of the pail. Using unsterilised pails with- 

 out any Other precaution, the open pail gave an 

 average per cubic centimetre of 497,653 bacteria, 

 while the small-top pail gave an average of 

 368,214 bacteria .1 25 pe cent reduction. With 

 Sterilised pails, under the same conditions, the 

 numbers were -'.1,077 and [7,027 respectively, an 

 enormous reduction bv the additional precaution 

 of using sterilised utensils. Washing of the udder 

 and teats reduced the bacterial content of the milk 

 In about 50 per cenl By a combination ol these 

 three factors it was possible to produce a milk 

 containing only 2000—3000 bacteria per cubic 

 centimetre even on farms which by any ordinary 

 standard would be considered to be very un- 

 hygienic. The original cost of a small-top pail is 

 little more than that of an ordinary open pail, 

 and it is no more expensive or difficult to care 

 for. Prof. Delepine, in a report (1918) to the 

 Sub-tCommittee on Clean Milk of the Sanitary 

 Committee of tin Manchester City Council, arrives 

 at much the same conclusions. He summarises 

 the points requiring special attention as follows : 

 (1) Cleanliness of the shippens, cows, milkers, 

 utensils, and dairy-hands; (2) protection of milk 

 against dirt during milking; (3) sterilisation of 

 milk pails, churns, etc., and their protection 

 against re-infection pending using; (4) protection 

 i'l fresh milk against admixture with stale milk; 

 (5) avoidance of straining through a common 

 strainer ; (6) avoidance of cooling by methods 

 causing large surfaces of milk to be exposed to 

 the air or to unsterilised surfaces; and (7) cool- 

 ing of the milk by keeping churns in cold stores 

 or places. 



Prof. Delepine advocates the use of the small- 

 top pail or some similar device. He finds that 

 pails, coolers, and churns cleaned with very pure 

 cold and hot water, and apparently scrupulousl) 

 clean, are still capable of imparting a large number 

 of bacteria to the milk, and urges the importance 

 of steam sterilisation of the utensils. This last 

 condition is not so difficult to accomplish, even 

 the small farm, as might at first sight appear, 



mple and inexpensive steam generators can 

 I- ed. With a small boiler holding six 



qua water, heated with a paraffin stove and 



boiling in six minutes, it is possible to sterilise at 

 one inn o-gallon pails or cans in fifteen to 



twcni\ n g) ensuring clean cows and 



milkers, and use 61 sterilised utensils and of 



the small-tO] ' 01 similar device, really clean 



milk- with a vi baoterial content, and there- 



lore with enham eping qualities, can be pro- 



duced withoui :\ the expensive re- 



modelling of cow sin/- and premises, and with 

 \er\ little disturbance .1 the time-honoured 

 routine of the ordinar) 1 mei 01 dairyman on the 

 ■ ei age Farm. R. T. Hewlett. 



NO. 2571, VOL. I02] 



NOTES. 



Sin Napier Shaw has been elected a foreign member 

 of the Reali Mccademia dei Lincei of Rome. 



We notice with much regrel tin announcement in 

 thi rimes that Prof. 1-:. ('. Pickering, director of the 

 Astronofrlical Observation of Harvard College, died 

 on February 3 at seventy-two years of age. 



A speciai genera! meeting of the Geological Societj 

 will he held on Wednesday, March 26, to consider the 

 resolution of the council of the societj : "That it is 

 desirable to admit women as fellows of the society." 



I'm: Institution of ("nil Engineers has elected upon 

 its mil of distinguished honorary members Marshal 

 l-'orh, O.M., Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, K.I., 

 and Admiral Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, G.C.B., O.M. 



Imi gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 has been awarded by the council to M. Guillaume 

 Bigourdan for his observations of nebulae, carried on 

 for about twenty-five years. It will be presented at 

 the annual general meeting of the societ) on Friday, 

 February 14. 



Ai the general munthh meeting of the members of 

 the Royal Institution, held on February 3, a bequest of 

 300/. was reported from the late Dr. T. Lambert 

 Mears, who was a member of the institution for fifty- 

 three years, and a donation of 50/. from "an old 

 member" in celebration of his fiftieth year of 

 membership. 



We learn that M. G. Grand idier has been appointed 

 general secretary of the Socie-te di G6ographie of 

 Paris in succession to the late Baron Hulot. Baron 

 1 1 libit, who had been secretary of the society for 

 more than twenty years, was an occasional contributor 

 to the pages of La Geographic. One of his most 

 important papers was a life of d'Entrecasteaux, 

 which appeared in 1894, and was the first complete 

 biograph) of the explorer. M. Grandidier is well 

 known for his researches in the exploration and 

 geograph) of Madagascar. 



The Royal Horticultural Societ) in its report for 

 1918, which has just been issued, makes the important 

 announcement that the revision of " Pritzel " is now in 

 hand, and that the work of preparing it for the press 

 is in progress at Kew under tin- personal supervision 

 ol Capt. \. W. Hill. It is estimated that the work 

 will include about 250,000 references, and its cost of 

 production will be at least 3500I., towards which assist- 

 ance is asked from the botanic stations, experimental 

 stations, and libraries of the world as well as from 

 private subscribers. All subscribers ol 15 guineas will 

 receive a fee copy, and those of larger amounts a 

 spei tally bound copy, according to their donation. 



I 1 was announced b\ the president of the Royal 



College of Physicians on January 30 thai the Swiney 

 Prize, the award of which is adjudicated by a joint 

 lit tee of the College and of the Royal Society of 

 Arts, has been awarded to Dr. C. A. Mercier lor his 

 work on "Crime and Criminals." Dr. Raymond 

 Crawfurd has been appointed to deliver the Harveian 

 Oration of the College on Si. Luke's Day, October is, 

 hi. V P. Beddard to l» Bradshaw Lecturer, and Dr. 

 Vldo 1 istellani to be Milrov Lecturer for 1920. Dr. J. 

 McVail will deliver the Milro\ lectures mi "Smallpox 

 and Vaccination since 1870, " on March 13, r8, and 10; 

 I )i . I 1 11 .li a the Goulstonian lectures on the "Spread ol 

 Bacterial Infection," on March 25 and 27 and April 1; 

 and Sii II. I). Rolleston the Lumleian lectures on 

 April 3, s, and to, taking as his subject " Cerebro- . 

 spinal I 



