37 
Ordinary Meeting, November 30th, 1869. 
Rev. William Gaskell, M.A., Vice-President, in the 
Chair, 
“ On the Microscopical Examination of Milk under cer- 
tain Conditions/’ by J. B. Dancer, F.R.A.S. 
In August and September last an account appeared in one 
of the newspapers (and also in other periodicals), which had 
been copied from the “Journal des Connaissances Medi- 
cales,” of some microscopical observations made by M. V. 
Essling on Milk, in which the author stated that “ if the 
surface of fresh cream be examined under the lens, one per- 
ceives, amid myriads of milky and fatty globules, a number 
of either round or oblong corpuscles, sometimes accompanied 
with finely dotted matter, being neither more nor less than 
germinative masses of vibrios — -just what is seen in most sub- 
stances in a state of putrefaction. In summer these corpuscles 
make their appearance within 15 or 24 hours after milking; 
in winter they will be perceptible after the lapse of two or 
three days. If the observation be continued until the moment 
of coagulation we see these corpuscles increase in number, 
bud, form ramified chains, and at length be transformed into 
regular mushrooms or filaments composed of cells placed 
end to end in simple series, and supporting at their extremi- 
ties a spherical knob filled with granulous matter. M. V. 
Essling thinks that they may be classified among the 
Ascophora. But the important point is, that the first ap- 
pearance of these spores occurs before the milk gets sour , 
and as this substance is almost the exclusive aliment of 
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil. Society. — Vol. IX. — No. 5. — Session 1869-70. 
