﻿518 The Philippine Journal of Science i9i4 



in the other three quarters. Since several cases of the poisoning 

 were noted previous to the occurrence of garget in the cow, this 

 could not have been the origin of the trouble. A young cow, 

 the offspring of the infected one, has been in contact with the 

 mother about two years, and gives apparently wholesome milk. 



Staphylococci are commonly found in the milk of apparently 

 healthy cows, but I have been unable to find in the litera- 

 ture any reference to the formation by a staphylococcus of a 

 toxin producing the symptoms above described. The staphy- 

 lococcus isolated in this case may be an unusual strain ; or, it is 

 possible that it is not uncommon, but that the usual practice 

 of keeping milk refrigerated prevents the formation of the 

 toxin. Ice was not in daily use on this farm, and as stated above 

 cream from the infected cow which had been kept cold for 

 twenty-four hours did not give the symptoms, but these followed 

 the ingestion of cream from the same bottle after it had been 

 left five hours at room temperature. As noted above, the cases 

 of gastroenteritis occurred chiefly during the hot months of the 

 year. This was the season when the milk from the infected cow 

 was mostly used, but the attacks at this season may have been due 

 in part to the higher temperature which favored the growth 

 of the staphylococcus. There was nothing unusual in the taste 

 of the infected cream. 



Since the cause of the poisoning became known, the use of 

 the raw milk of the infected cow has been discontinued, and 

 all trouble has ceased. One person during a residence of several 

 months on the farm had suffered from indigestion of a chronic 

 character, but had had few acute attacks. With the discontin- 

 uance of the use of infected milk his indigestion ceased. 



As has been stated, milk from the two cows was regularly 

 furnished to a neighbor, and no attacks occurred in his family. 

 His freedom from the trouble is probably due to the fact that 

 the milk was commonly used fresh in his household. In the 

 cases of the family of the owner of the cow, some resistance 

 to the toxin had apparently been developed. On two occasions 

 at least when I suffered attacks at the farm, the infected cream 

 was eaten by members of the family who subsequently showed 

 no decided symptoms. A sample of the cream which had caused 

 a severe attack in me was preserved, and the next day a member 

 of the family took a large dose of it. Only slight symptoms 

 followed. The cream had become sour in the meantime. The 

 evidence that all members of the family had acquired some toler- 

 ance to the toxin seems conclusive. 



