ANOMALIES OF LACTATION, 



431 



6. Putrid Milk. 



Etiology. This alteration, which is quite rare, is occasioned by 

 the introduction of agents of putrid fermentation in the milk. It 

 is generally caused by the uncleanliness of the premises and utensils 

 used in the stable, or vessels in which the milk is deposited. But 

 it may also be dependent upon processes of decomposition which 

 take place in the digestive apparatus after the ingestion of tainted 

 food, or rancid bone-dust, etc. (Haubner and Siedamgrotzky). The 

 principal microbes which determine this alteration are Bacterium 

 termo and B. lineola. 



Characters. Three or four days after being drawn gaseous 

 bubbles (sulphuric acid, carburetted hydrogen) appear upon the thin 

 surface of cream formed in the vessels in which the milk has been 

 deposited; they soon open, leaving in their stead small cavities 

 upon whose surface the cream has disappeared (cream which ''eats 

 itself away"). Little by little this assumes a dirty-yellow colora- 

 tion and oil-drops appear in its substance; it takes on a bitter, 

 rancid, putrid flavor (free fat acids, butyric acids, also valerianic, 

 capronic, caprinic, caprylic acids), and does not produce any butter. 



Treatment. The prophylaxis consists in disinfection and cleans- 

 ing of the stables, litter, and vessels destined to receive the milk. 

 When this alteration is due to a gastro-intestinal afïection we must 

 administer stomachics and antiseptics internally. We may try 

 alkalines,' sea salt, hyposulphite of soda and hyposulphite of lime. 



7. Mucous, Oily, Viscous, Filamentous Milk. 



Etiology. Filamentous milk is the result of a microbic inva- 

 sion. In a microscopic examination we find mobile, round, refract- 

 ing corpuscles, the diameter of which is about 1^, and which appear 

 under the form of isolated micrococci or streptococci (Schmidt- 

 Muhlheim). The fermentative matter is furnished by the sugar of 

 milk ; the albumin or casein solutions are not at all influenced by 

 these micro-organisms, which produce, on the contrary, a very 

 active fermentation when they are deposited in a 1 per cent, solu- 

 tion of sugar of milk. The mucilaginous substance withdrawn 

 from the filamentous milk by the action of alcohol presents ex- 

 actly the reactions of vegetable mucilage (quince jelly) ; its pro- 

 duction and the disappearance of sugar of milk are correlative 

 phenomena. 



