ANOMALIES OF LACTATION. 



435 



and of a citron-yellow coloration. Lactic acid hinders the develop- 

 ment of this bacterium.^ 



9. Foreign Products in Milk. 



Among the foreign products of milk which present most interest 

 we must mention : the abnormal sapid substances, flavoring or 

 coloring matters, medicines and poisons, the pathological products, 

 pus, blood, and the various micro-organisms of which mention has 

 already been made. 



1. Abnormal sapid substances. They are mostly produced by 

 alimentary matters which are undergoing decomposition : rancid 

 cakes, decayed or frozen potatoes or turnips, acid malts ; roots and 

 leaves of turnips, which contain essential oil (Schumacher) ; fodder 

 of bad quality gathered here and there; tree leaves, chestnuts, 

 Jerusalem artichoke, twigs, dandelion, absinthe, male-fern, garlic, 

 thistles, rape and linseed cake, oat straw and pea grass in too large 

 quantities (Haubner, etc.). The anomalies of sapidity may also be 

 due to unclean utensils : in all these cases the milk takes a disa- 

 greeable, rancid and bitter taste. Those which are brought into 



1 Dr. Adametz, professor at the Agricultural School of Vienna, has just published 

 an important work in which are explained the most recent acquisitions in the study 

 of milk alterations. 



The red coloration may be produced by the Bacillus prodigiosus or Monas prodigiosa 

 (Ehrenberg), and by the Bacterium lactis erythrogenes (Hueppe). The Bacillus pro- 

 digiosus causes upon the surface of the milk the formation of a reddish pellicle, the 

 shade of which is variable, but the coloring principle which it generates can only be 

 elaborated in the presence of oxygen ; the deep layers preserve their normal color. 

 The Bacterium lactis erythrogenes colors in a uniform red shade the entire mass of the 

 milk. This micro-organism is shown in the shape of very short and immobile rods; 

 cultured in fresh milk it precipitates the casein and colors the serum : within two or 

 three weeks the whole mass becomes a dark blood-red. Light hinders the action of 

 this parasite. 



The blue coloration is produced by the Bacillus cyanogenus or Vibrio syncyanus of 

 Ehrenberg, a bacillus with sporulated extremities and animated by very rapid move- 

 ments. It appears only in milk possessing a certain degree of acidity. We first see 

 the formation of small blue dots upon the cream layer, which become enlarged, and 

 are extended little by little in depth and invade the whole mass. 



The yellow coloration is determined by the Bacillus synxanthus, a bacillus of small 

 size, which possesses the power of individual motion. 



These coloring principles are altogether different from aniline colors, and do not 

 seem hurtful to health. 



Milk constitutes an excellent medium of culture for a large number of micro- 

 organisms. The typhic, tuberculous, glanderous, diphtheric, anthrax, and cholera bacilli 

 and the pneumococci multiply very rapidly in it. (Adametz, transi, by Guenot, in 

 Recueil Vét., 1890.)— n. d. t. 



