806 
The Fermentations of Mill-. 
method of feeding it to them was discovered, after whicli no further 
trouble was experienced. In the case of the Pinguicula, confirma- 
tion is afforded by the fact that Weiginann ha^- isolated from the 
slimy milk produced by it an organism which produces the observed 
effect, rendering milk into which it is 
inoculated slimy in ten to fifteen hours 
at an optimum temperature of 86 deg. 
to 104: deg. F. Slimy milk is also used 
in the manufacture of Edam cheese, and 
Weigmann has isolated from the whey 
of this cheese the same coccus which 
he finds in the Norwegian slimy milk. 
The ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION OP 
MILK is one that cannot well be omitted 
in a review of this kind. It is not a 
fermentation that cows’ milk readily 
undergoes, and is hardly, if at all, known 
as a dairy trouble. In fact, if the 
yeast of beer or wine is added to milk, 
it usually sets up the lactic fermenta- 
tion, doubtless because nearly all com- 
mercial yeast is contaminated by one or another lactic ferment. 
That the sugar of milk can under suitable circumstances be con- 
verted into alcohol is nevertheless a familiar fact from the exist- 
ence of at least two alcoholic liquors that owe their properties 
to this change. One of these is koumiss, which, as prepared by 
Tartar tribes, is made from mares’ milk. The ferment used by them 
is a little previously made koumiss, or even a little sour milk, and 
as these substances, if added to cows’ milk, would merely curdle it, 
we must conclude that the sugar of mares’ milk, if identical with 
that of cows’ milk, is at any rate more susceptible of the alcoholic 
fermentation than the latter. The casein in the mares’ milk is not 
found to be curdled or precijiitated in the fermented koumiss, but 
is converted into soluble and more digestible forms. This has led 
to the manufacture of an imitation of koumiss from cows’ milk as 
an invalid’s beverage, and in this case the milk is induced to enter 
upon the alcoholic fermentation by the addition of a little common 
sugar, which, it is well known, easily yields alcohol when fermented 
with yeast. If properly managed the milk sugar will then also 
undergo conversion into alcohol, and the casein, although at first 
precipitated, will be afterwards dissolved, and its digestion facili- 
tated as in genuine koumiss. 
The other alcoholic milk beverage is made from cows’ milk. It 
is the “ kefir ” of the Caucasus, made in leather flasks by placing in 
the milk some “ kefir grains.” These curious grains not only start 
the fermentation, but grow in size during the process, after which 
they are taken out, dried, and kept for future use. They will keep 
for years with their power undiminished. A number of difl’erent 
species of microbes have been found in kefir grains by various 
The Common Buttcrwort, 
Pinguicula vulgaris^ L. 
