424 APPLIED BACTERIOLOGY 



common no longer. It would not be difficult to carry out 

 this change; indeed, in the better-managed of our large 

 dairy companies' farms such a condition no longer prevails, 

 but in the smaller farms it is but too frequently met with. 



3. That the hands of the milker be thoroughly washed 

 before the operation of milking is commenced, and that 

 after once being washed they be not again employed in 

 handling the cow otherwise than in the necessary operation 

 of milking. Any such handling should be succeeded by 

 another washing in fresh water before again commencing 

 to milk. 



4. That all milk-vendors' shops should be kept far 

 cleaner than is often the case at present. That all milk- 

 retailing shops should be compelled to provide proper 

 storage accommodation, and that the counters, etc., should 

 be tiled. 



To these valuable suggestions we would point out the 

 great necessity which exists for proper and thorough sys- 

 tematic veterinary and bacteriological inspection, whereby 

 any animal suffering from any tubercular or other disease 

 could be at once isolated and, if necessary, destroyed. 



Sterilisation and ' Pasteurisation ' of Milk. — These two 

 processes are now coming into extensive use for the purpose 

 of preserving this article of food almost indefinitely, or 

 with a view of increasing its keeping powers. The sterilisa- 

 tion of milk, that is to say, to render it definitely free from 

 organisms, is by no means an easy matter, owing to the very 

 resistant nature of some of the bacteria that it always 

 contains. A sterilisation of milk to be absolute would 

 require six hours' heating at boiling-point, or an exposure 

 for a shorter time to steam under pressure. Fractional 

 sterilisation is too long and too cumbrous a process for 

 general use, whilst the continuous action of steam affects 

 the lactose, rendering the milk brown, and further, by con- 



