BACTERIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF MILK SUPPLIES 



159 



may be some difference of opinion as to whether 200,000 to 400,000 

 germs per cubic centimeter at that time is at all detrimental, I 

 believe all who are informed on the subject will agree with me that 

 4,390,000, as found in No. XIV, and 4,782,600, as found in No. XVI, 

 is too high a count when that milk has been packed in ice all the time. 

 Then when we note that those samples showed 57,666,000 germs per 

 cubic centimeter and 59,546,000 germs per cubic centimeter respec- 

 tively in the evening of the same first day when not kept on ice, we 

 can appreciate why there is such a high mortality among the children 

 of the poor. 



CHART IV 



* The numbers in these columns refer to hours after milking. 



There are some apparent discrepancies in this chart — for instance, 

 Sample No. XVIII, which showed an initial count of only 100,000, 

 jmnped up to 1,319,000 in seventeen hours when kept on ice, and to 

 10,405,500 at room temperature, while No. XV, with an initial count 

 of 158,200, in fourteen hours increased to only 895,000 on ice, and to 

 only 2,985,000 at room temperature. 



This may be explained in this way: In the early hours of the decom- 

 position of milk there are found predominating certain kinds of germs 

 which produce certain by-products which either inhibit or accelerate 

 the growth of the germs of the lactic acid group. If these germs first 

 on the scene happen to produce a large amount of substance tending 

 to accelerate the lactic acid bacilH, we are likely to note in the second 



