418 APPLIED BACTERIOLOGY 



by Hueppe and Loffler. The bacillus of bitter milk proper 

 is that of Bleisch {Zeitschr. f. Hyg., xiii., p. 81)— a facul- 

 tative anaerobic organism, consisting of stout rods with 

 bundles of flagella rapidly liquefying gelatine, producing a 

 thin, flat, grayish growth on agar and potato. 



In milk it will after a week produce transparent yellow 

 streaks below the cream, the milk itself coagulating, and 

 the coagulum being subsequently, earlier or later, almost 

 completely dissolved. The bitter taste arises after the 

 second week ; there is no smell; the reaction is acid. At 

 higher temperatures the milk becomes bitter, and gives the 

 biuret reaction after twenty-four hours, while spores are 

 produced which resist boiling for six hours. The micro- 

 coccus of bitter milk is that of Cohn {Centralbl.f. Bald., 

 ix., p. 653), which coagulates milk, and then forms it into 

 a slimy solution, with a slightly sour and very bitter taste. 



Eopy or Stringy Milk. — Owing to the action of micro- 

 organisms, milk frequently becomes filamentous or stringy in 

 character. This milk disease is much deprecated in Swit- 

 zerland, where milk so diseased cannot be employed in the 

 manufacture of certain cheeses. The milk, after twelve or 

 fourteen hours, assumes a sticky character, which sometimes 

 is so marked that the liquid can be pulled out into strings 

 if the finger be dipped into it. The Norwegian national 

 drink, known as tcBtteTncelk, is a preparation produced with 

 the aid of the ' stringy ' milk bacillus. Adametz {Milch. 

 Zeitung, 1889, p. 48) found in two streams large numbers 

 of a bacillus which had the property of producing a high 

 degree of ropiness in sterilised milk; so that under micro- 

 scopical examination no trace of the structure of the fat 

 corpuscles could be observed, although the fat had not 

 been decomposed. This water may either have been used 

 to wash out the utensils, or grass moistened with it may 

 liave been conveyed into the stables as hay, and the 



