322 
and the soil. Mr. Hirshberg has, during 
the past summer, made a systematic study 
of the distribution of this bacillus in various 
situations. Various methods were em- 
ployed for its isolation, one of the most use- 
ful being the inoculation into the circulation 
of rabbits, which were then killed accord- 
ing to the procedure described by Welch 
and Nuttall. In each instance the bacillus, 
if found, was isolated in pure culture, and 
identified by its characteristic properties. 
B. crogenes capsulatus was found by Mr. 
Hirshberg regularly in the feces of man 
(being isolated from all parts of the intes- 
tinal canal), of swine, of dogs and of cats, 
and was found with varying frequency, as 
a rule, in 50 to 80 per cent. of the animals 
examined, in the feces of rabbits, guinea- 
pigs, mice, rats, chickens, pigeons and cows. 
It was likewise obtained from the excre- 
ment of flies hovering around the bodies of 
infected animals or human cadavers. It 
was isolated constantly from garden earth, 
rarely from street dust. It was detected 
four times out of eighteen examinations of 
dust swept from the floors of hospital wards, 
the dispensary or the laboratory. Once it 
was obtained in scrapings from the human 
skin. It was isolated twice from cesspools. 
The results of Schattenfroh and Grassberger 
concerning the presence of this bacillus in 
market milk were confirmed. In the light 
of these and previous investigations JB. 
erogenes capsulatus must be regarded as the 
most widely distributed of bacteria. 
The Bacterial Condition of City Milk and the 
Need of Health Authorities to prevent the 
Sale of Milk containing Excessive Nuwm- 
bers of Bacteria: H. W. Parx, New York. 
The author raised the question whether it 
is possible for health boards to set a limit 
to the number of bacteria which milk may 
contain, and above which its sale could be 
prohibited. During the coldest weather 
the milk in New York City averages about 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. XIII. No. 322. 
250,000 bacteria per cc., during cool 
weather about 2,000,000 and during hot 
weather about 5,000,000. The milk in 
other large cities is, from all accounts, in 
about the same condition. The above state- 
ment does not apply to the special milks 
which contain only from 5,000 to 20,000 
bacteria at the different seasons of the year. 
In answer to the question whether these 
enormous numbers of bacteria found in milk 
during the hot weather are harmful, refer- 
ence need only to be made to the universal 
clinical experience that a great number of 
children in cities sicken on the milk sup- 
plied in summer; that those who are put 
on milk that is sterile, or contains few bac- 
teria, as a rule, mend rapidly, while those 
kept on the impure milk continue ill, or 
die. We probably have,as yet, insufficient 
knowledge to state just how many bacteria 
must accumulate to make them noticeably 
dangerous in milk, but it is a safe conclu- 
sion that no more bacteria should be allowed 
than it is practicable to avoid. Any in- 
telligent farmer can use sufficient cleanli- 
ness and supply sufficient cold, with almost 
no increase in expense, to supply milk 24 
to 86 hours old which will not contain in 
each cc. over 100,000 bacteria, and no milk 
poorer than this should be sold. The most 
deleterious changes which occur in milk 
during its transportation are now known to 
be due to the changes produced by bacterial 
growth and activity. These add to the 
milk acids and distinctly poisonous bac- 
terial toxins to such an extent that much 
of the milk, by the time it is used in sum- 
mer, has become decidedly injurious to in- 
valids and infants. While it is the uni- 
versal custom of the health authorities to 
guard their milk in many ways, they never- 
theless entirely fail to prevent the sale of 
milk rendered unfit for use through excess- 
ive numbers of bacteria and their products. 
This seems all the more remarkable when 
we consider how comparatively easy the 
