1884. J 
747 
Analyses of Books. 
but he does not — as far as we see — throw any light upon the 
possible changes in its quality. This is the more to be regretted, 
since the opinion prevails that the milk of aged cows has a ten- 
dency to occasion phthisis. Decisive information on this point 
would have been very valuable. 
The influence of meteorological phenomena on the yield and 
quality of milk, we are told, has yet to be examined. “ Hard 
work,” it is stated, impairs the quality and reduces the quantity of 
milk. This is a consideration which has no practical interest 
for the English reader. 
In a sedtion on the colour of milk it is remarked that deep blue 
spots are sometimes produced in milk by a certain fungus. The 
pigment generated appears to border closely upon triphenyl- 
rosaniline. 
As to the microscopical examination of milk, the author con- 
siders that it can merely furnish useful indications for the detec- 
tion of morbid changes or for the determination of adulterants. 
The lower organisms present in milk are My coderma, lactis, Mucor 
racemosus, Penicillium glaucum, Dictyostelium mucoroides, and 
various species of badteria, vibrio, zoogloea, and monads. Hence 
no one need wonder that milk may be the medium of transmitting 
infectious diseases. It is thoroughly established that microbia 
present in the water drunk by cows may reappear in their milk. 
Other channels of infedtion are impure water used to adulterate 
milk, or even to wash out the cans. Milk whilst stored in dairies 
has been found to absorb and communicate the virus of typhus 
and of scarlatina. Dr. Gerber is of opinion that the milk of cows 
suffering from foot and mouth disease and from cattle plague is 
not rendered safe by boiling. He protests against the use, in the 
diet of milch cows, of distillery swill, brewers’ grains, and other- 
fermenting matter. He rightly suggests that the supervision of 
milk should extend to the animals themselves, their food, water, 
and housing. 
As regards adulteration, the author is of opinion that dealers 
mostly confine their operations to watering and to the addition of 
skim-milk to new milk. 
Concerning sheeps’ milk we find the following curious remark : 
— “ The many points which mountain dairies and the dairies of 
the marshy, flat lands have in common is also illustrated by the 
fadt that sheep are kept for their milk in Holland.” 
In speaking of condensed milk the author exposes a vulgar 
error. He writes — “ It is simply a prejudice that Swiss con- 
densed milk should, as regards richness, possess superior quali- 
ties. Considerable stress is laid on the superior quality, especi- 
ally as regards flavour, of the milk of cattle fed on Alp mountain 
pasture. If we consider, however, that the establishments which 
manufacture condensed milk are not only situate in the valleys, 
but use exclusively, as they do everywhere else, milk produced 
in the valleys, the ridiculousness of the claims made are at once 
apparent.” 3 D2 
