MICROBIt! CHANGES IN MILK. 593 



Sh-nlisatioii. — Sterilisation necessitates the use of special apparatus 

 in which the milk is heated in a water or steam bath sheltered from 

 the action of the air, the temperature rising to 212° to 240° Fahr. 

 (100° to 115" C.) ; all the ferments are destroyed, and the milk will 

 keep indefinitely, but its composition is sHghtly modified. 



Diseases Transmissible to Man through the Medium of Milk.— 

 Tuberculosis. — The history of tuberculosis contains numerous facts 

 proving the possibility of contagion by milk from cows suffering from 

 tuberculous mammitis, though it seems necessary that the milk 

 should be taken for a certain time to produce these effects. 



Foot-aud-Moutli Disease. — Observations recorded by veterinary 

 surgeons j^rove that this disease affects the teats. It may be trans- 

 mitted to man. The milker may be directly inoculated, but the milk 

 is the ordinary vehicle of contagion. Ohauveau saw an epidemic in 

 a school at Lyons' where milk was obtained from cows suffering from 

 foot-and-mouth disease. In a similar way 205 persons were inocu- 

 lated at Dover in 18.S4, and suffered from vesicles about the mouth. 



Although foot-and-mouth disease is extremely benign in men, it 

 is well to take every precaution against it. 



Gastro-Intestinal Infections. — Cases have l)een recorded of gastro- 

 intestinal infection in young animals and children in consequence of 

 consuming milk which had undergone abnormal changes. Milk con- 

 taining various kinds of micro-organisms may at first produce lactic 

 indigestion and afterwards diarrhceic enteritis. 



Q Q 

 B.C. 



