August 27, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



261 



in reality — it becomes more and more laden 

 with dangers. In the eyes of the milk pro- 

 ducer the drawing of the milk from the 

 udder and passing it on to the consumer is 

 fraught at times with insurmountable diffi- 

 culties. This task is not easy for a trained, 

 intelligent manipulator, so many and di- 

 verse are the ways of contamination. Too 

 many who have never drawn a drop of milk 

 from a cow under the practical conditions 

 which surround her find it very simple to 

 lay down regulations. To carry these into 

 effectiveness by force against possible 

 negligence, ignorance, indifference and even 

 criminal wilfulness, only increases the 

 strength of the barrier which separates the 

 controlling and controlled elements. 



Other important manipulative processes 

 in the dairy as straining, cooling, pasteur- 

 izing, cleansing, may be readily designated 

 as a struggle against the army of micro- 

 organisms which has been allowed to enteT. 

 This warfare is costly when it proves to be 

 nothing more than the undoing of what 

 has been done. It is the recognition of 

 ignorance and conditions over which con- 

 trol is impossible through any plan de- 

 vised by man, but it is also the award of 

 inheritance and traditions fostered in 

 former generations and neglected as a 

 lowly pursuit. 



In the preceding paragraphs artificially 

 reared babes have been the indicators by 

 which the microbial reactions are deter- 

 mined. "We now turn to the adult who 

 seeks security from invasions by micro- 

 organisms through the medium of milk. 

 The ages have given to us sour cream 

 butter, properly ripened cheese, various 

 palatable fermented milk drinks. Sweet 

 milk is a source of danger, but time has been 

 beneficial in demonstrating that if milk is 

 started with the right fermentation the ele- 

 ment of danger is routed. Accordingly, in 

 the knowledge and practises of the day, it 



is a simple matter to develop innocuous but 

 dominating cultures of lactic or other 

 organisms which will lend themselves to 

 supplanting and controlling those organ- 

 isms whose presence is not sought in the 

 cream which makes the butter, in the milk 

 which makes the cheese, in the intestines 

 subject to all sorts of defiling and toxic 

 substances, in milk which leads to koumiss, 

 kephir, yoghurt and other delectable milk 

 beverages. The taste once developed, as 

 that which selects a fine wine, attempts to 

 extend the local manufacture and demands 

 for instance for a Camembert or Roquefort 

 a broader field, for in such products are 

 found the bouquet of a Penicillium and 

 other organisms which find response even 

 in an American palate. 



The vulgar term "starter" exemplifies 

 the Yankee adroitness in the use of words 

 which hit. It must not be gathered that it 

 is confined to the dairy, for it has been used 

 for yeast in the making of bread, in brew- 

 ing and wine production, in vinegar manu- 

 facture, and elsewhere. The new method 

 employs a starter which is a known culture 

 of microorganisms and the old method em- 

 ployed a starter, under different names, of 

 unknown germ content. 



Not only milk, but foods of many kinds 

 command the attention of the microbiolo- 

 gist, and they all in some form concern the 

 farmer. Whether in preservation by dry- 

 ing, by heating, by refrigerating or by 

 brining and the use of preservatives; 

 whether in fermentation leading to some 

 useful end; whether in putrefaction or de- 

 composition resulting in the destruction of 

 the food with or without the production of 

 toxic substances; or whether in those ab- 

 normal conditions instigated by disease- 

 producing organisms calling for inspection 

 or public control, microbial processes are 

 involved and microorganisms, the active 



