SCIENTIFIC WORK OF HARRY LUMAWN RUSSELL 17 
by the patrons for harmful types of bacteria. This method 
furnished the cheese maker a reasonable way of overcoming 
the most frequently occurring and most important trouble 
that confronted him. 
The field of enzymology was a relatively unexplored one 
in 1897, when a report was made by Dr. Babcock and Dean 
Russell on the presence in milk of a proteolytic enzyme to 
which the term galactase was applied. A study of the oc- 
currence of this enzyme showed it to be present in the milk 
of various species of animals. The study of the properties 
of this enzyme and its réle in the ripening of cheddar cheese 
led to a modification in the curing of cheese that has become 
of the greatest importance to the cheese industry. The 
ripening of cheese at low temperatures was held by men of 
long practical experience to be impossible. The results of the 
experiments made at Wisconsin showed that at much lower 
temperatures than had been used in the curing rooms, the 
occurrence of abnormal flavors was much less frequent than 
at the higher temperatures. The experiments in the cold 
curing of cheese were extended in 1901 and 1902 and later 
were carried on in cooperation with the Dairy Division of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the New York Ex- 
periment Station at Geneva. This work has served to revolu- 
tionize the entire business of curing cheese. It has saved and 
is saving every year large sums of money to the industry 
through the prevention of abnormal cheese. It is an ex- 
cellent example of the practical results that may follow from 
work that apparently can promise no practical results. 
In the early years of this century the presence of cellular 
elements in milk was attracting the attention of health officials. 
Rules were being formulated that meant the rejection of a 
large part of the milk produced. The rules had been for- 
mulated out of a clear sky. Their authors thought that milk 
should contain not to exceed a certain arbitrary number of 
cells. They had not taken the trouble to determine by a study 
of milks anything concerning the normal content in these 
elements and some of the factors that influence their number. 
Work done on the University herd showed that the standards 
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