191 1.] The "Long Lactic Bacteria." 307 



Feeding Stuffs Act, a sample should be taken as required by 

 the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Regulations (See Leaflet 

 No. 18) and a portion should be sent as required to the County 

 . Analyst. Preliminary information as to procedure can be 

 obtained, if necessary, by addressing an inquiry to the County 

 Analyst, and the assistance of an Official Sampler can be 

 requisitioned. The fees payable vary in different districts. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE "LONG LACTIC 

 BACTERIA" OR LACTOBACILLI. 



William Stevenson, B.Sc, N.D.A., N.D.D., 



Lecturer on Dairying at the West of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow. 



This type of micro-organism — in French and English the 

 so-called Bacillus Bulgaricus type — has been known to 

 European bacteriologists for the last fifteen or twenty years, 

 but an increased interest has attached to it in the last few 

 years since Metchnikoff has recommended fermented milk 

 containing such organisms as a common article of diet. The 

 germs have been discovered and found to be the chief active 

 principles in such fermented milks as "kefir," "yoghurt," 

 "leben," "mazun," "gioddu," and "koumiss." It is found 

 that these organisms can maintain themselves under the 

 conditions present in the human intestines, and they are 

 believed to have a beneficial influence in controlling injurious 

 fermentations there. A great impetus has lately been given 

 to the trade in fermented milks in many countries, and the 

 bacteria are now supplied commercially in different forms, 

 as in milk, tablets, sweets of various kinds, prepared 

 cheeses, &c. 



Probably the first to isolate organisms of this type was 

 Beijerinck, who found in Russian "kefir" a long form of 

 lactic organism differing in some important respects frorri 

 the normal milk-souring bacteria, and which he termed 

 Lactobacillus Caucasicus. Then in Egyptian "leben," 

 Rist and Khoury found two types of lactic acid-producing 

 bacteria differing in some respects from the type discovered 

 by Beijerinck, yet possessing the same general characters. 

 Later, Grigoroff isolated from Bulgarian "yoghurt" two 

 distinct strains of lactic bacilli with close resemblances to 

 the types already discovered. One of these he termed 



