801 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist.'^ 
[May 1, 1901. 
the cow's body they secure these requirements in 
the most favourable form. Biicteria are vegetable 
cells and absorb food in like manner to the cells 
of higher plant life. On reacliing the milk they 
attack the milk-sugar, break it down so as to 
secure the. oxygen associated with it. They dis- 
turb the chemical churacter of the sugar, and 
through their agency release lactic acid or sour- 
ness, carbonic acid gas, and a little alcohol. 
After milk is allowed to stand it becomes 
increasingly sour. Tiiis is due to the lactic acid 
germs, e;icb of which is contributing its quota to 
the sense of sourness evolved. A study of the 
germ sliows that when immersed in milk the heat 
maintained at blood or body temperature, they 
increase by fi-sion, and this is oliservable every 
half-liour. This one germ will sjilit in half 
at the end of the first half-hour, in another 
it is four, again eight, 16, 32, and so on in 
progression, and at the end of ten hours 
this single organism has increased to over a 
million. To the pioper control and development 
of this family of organisms we are indebted for 
the correct flavour and other desirable characteris- 
tics in butter and cheese. Most organisms, how- 
ever, may be air dried, and putrefactive germs 
becoming associated with dried masses of decay- 
ing vegetation, stagnant water and drainage, or 
animal excrement. These are carried about on 
dust, and contaminate food products. In milk, 
the uiilk sugai', casein, and mineral salts provide 
them with food, and they propagate in similar 
ratio to the desirable forms, but emit taint, pro- 
duce false flavors and objectionable odors. 
These we have to understand and control It 
is known that most organisms cease to multiply 
or propagate at 50 degrees F. From this forward 
the multiplication increases, where food and 
moisture are ample, to 98 degrees Fah., when the 
maximum point of propagation is reached, A 
gradual decline then ensures until we reach what 
is known as the pasteurising point, viz., 157 
degrees F., when tlie bacteria die. Organisms, 
such as the lactic acid series, increase by fission, 
and hence are readily controlled by heat. Other 
forms, and particularly the putrefactive series, 
increase by the formation and shedding of sporei 
or seeds, which often resist higli temperature, even 
boiling in water for several hours. Such abnor- 
mal fermentations as we get in milk, denomi- 
nated false curdling, thinny, stringy, bitter, blue, 
red milk, as well as milk giving off gases, 
bitter in flavor, and tainted, may be credited to the 
invasion or presence of peculiar species of micro 
organisms, as a rule the result of dirty practices 
at the milking shed, filthy surroundings, impure 
storage, and other causes at the source of supply. 
To prove that milk i« absolutely free of germ life, 
and that bacteria produces sourness and creates 
the fermentative, changes in milk, Pasteur's 
brilliant successor, Ducluux, took a iiealthy heifer 
that he milked under strict methods of bacterio- 
logical cleanliness into a sterile flask. The 
precautions observed were such as to ensure tha 
exclusion of germ life from any exteriuil source. 
The flask was hermeticjlly sealed and kept for 
four years. The only cinirge observable was the 
rising of the cream. The bottle or glass was then 
broken, and it was found the milk was as sweet, 
sound, and as pure as when it left the heifer's 
udder. Thus Duclnux conclusively demonstrated 
the contention of bacteriologists that milk is fre« 
from germs in the true udder, and to thS intro- 
duction of germ life is due the fermentative chan- 
ges. All bocteria possess in a more or les« degree 
mobile power, chiefly through the use of flugelloe. 
In form they are fojind as rods, spherical bodies, 
or spiral. 
We apply the knowledge of germs to everyday 
life in the dairy, where the aim is to suppress 
dirt and dust. Cleanliness and coolness are the 
watchwords to be ever remembered by individual* 
who are associated with every phase of the 
industry from the milking of the cow to the 
consumer's table. Tl e cows should be keenlj* 
scrutinized at all times for symptoms of ill-health 
on the first symptoms of which appearing 
they should be isolated. This applies with 
equal force to the milker who may suffer 
from contagious skin or other forms of diseases. 
Cow and milker are equally dangerous to th« 
consumer's health if diseased. The cows after 
being leisurely driven to the sheds and quietly 
bailed up ought to be groomed, i.e., the belly 
brusiied, udder and teats v;ashed and all 
wiped with a damp cloth. The milker ought 
to wear clean clothes, have clean hands and 
finger nails, the latter well pared A clean well 
scalded bucket is esseutial. The cow's teats are 
divided into two chambers, an inner and an 
outer, the former being controlled by the cow 
through a sphincter muscle. This completely 
shuts off the inner chamber from invasion by bac- 
teria. The outer chamber is open to invasion 
through the teat opening. After each milking there 
remaind in I his part of the teat a small quiiuticy 
of milk. On returning to the paddock tlie cow, 
when lying down, creates a suction in the udder 
by breathing, which causes the milk to ooze from 
the teat. This communicates the putrefactive 
and other objectionable forms of organisms on 
soil, grass and cows' body. They float into the 
interior of the teat, where suitable conditions of 
moisture, temperature, and food prevail, with the 
result that at the following milking the chamber 
is swarming with hostile forms of bacteria, and 
these are milked straight into the bucket or over 
the milker's dirty hands first, there to propagate 
and impregnate the pure milk, which follow.'* 
with taints and other milk disorder. To obviate 
this, tl;e first tablespoonf ul from each teat should 
be kept separate, scalded, and sent to the pigs. 
Steam and boiling water are acknowledged as 
most valuable cleansing and disinfecting agents, 
yet their application proves insufficient at times. 
In such cases contamination could be rendered 
nugatory by a process long followed by housewives, 
viz., the use cf a boiling solution of common 
washing sod i. Scientific experiments have been 
conducted with resistant forms of germ life, and 
the rnost obstinate we know are those which 
create that terrible disease, anthrax. The spore 
of this bacillus will resist boiling water and steam 
for hours, l)ut it instantly dies on being immersed 
in a half per cent of boiling solution of soda. All 
spores are thus controlled and dealt with. W hen 
