BACTERIA IN ARTICLES OF FOOD. 669 
dence that this disease uas been spread by the use of contaminated 
milk, as have also diphtheria and typhoid fever, which diseases are 
due to bacilli now well known. As the cholera spirillum grows 
readily in milk, this disease could no doubt also be transmitted in 
the same way. 
Sedgwick and Batchelder (1892) have examined a large number 
of specimens of milk obtained in Boston and vicinity, for the purpose 
of determining the number of bacteria present. They found, as an 
average of several trials, that milk obtained in a clean stable, from 
a well-kept cow, by milking in the usual way into a sterilized bottle, 
contained 530 bacteria per cubic centimetre. “When, however, the 
milkman used the ordinary milk pail of flaring form, seated himself 
with more or less disturbance of the bedding, and vigorously shook 
the udder over the pail during the usual process of milking,” the 
numbers were very much higher—on an average 30,500 per cubic 
centimetre immediately after milking. The average of fifteen sam- 
ples taken from the tables of persons living in the suburbs of Boston 
was 69,143 per cubic centimetre. The average of fifty-seven sam- 
ples of Boston milk, obtained directly from the milk wagons and 
plated at once, was 2,355,500 per cubic centimetre. The average of 
sixteen samples from groceries in the city of Boston was 4,577,000 
per cubic centimetre. 
Prof. Renk found in the milk supply of Halle from 6,000,000 to 
30,000,000 bacteria per cubic centimetre—a number considerably ex- 
ceeding that usually found in the sewage of American cities (Sedg- 
wick). 
oe and Neumann (1891) have shown that the milk of healthy 
women frequently contains bacteria, and that Staphylococcus pyo- 
genes albus is the species most frequently found. This has been 
confirmed by the researches of Palleske (1892), Ringel (1893) and 
others. The last-mentioned author examined the milk of 25 women 
recently confined, “12 of whom were healthy and 13 sick.” In 38 
cases only was the milk sterile; in 17 cases Staphylococcus pyogenes 
albus was found; in 2 cases Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus; in 1 
case both albus and aureus; in 2cases Staphylococcus pyogenes albus 
and Streptococcus pyogenes. The streptococci were found in a case 
of mild puerperal fever and in a case of phlebitis. 
The researches of Hirshberger (1889), of Ernst (1895), and of 
others show that the milk of tuberculous cows may contain tubercle 
bacilli even when the udder of the animal presents no evidence of a 
localized tubercular infection. In 121 samples of milk examined by 
Ernst from 36 different cows, 19 gave a positive result; all from the 
milk of 12 cows in which no evidence of tuberculosis of the udder 
was found in a carefully made post-mortem examination. Among 
