449 
BACTERIAL COUNTS IN OTHER CITIES. 
The great bacterial contamination of milk in other cities is given 
in order to compare with the results found in Washington. 
The statement is frequently made that the milk of American 
cities has fewer bacteria than that of European cities. The methods 
used for making bacterial counts differ, so that comparisons are dif- 
ficult to make. The larger cities have a much greater bacterial 
contamination in their general milk supply than the smaller cities 
and towns. We would expect this difference when we recall how 
much easier it is to obtain milk less than 24 hours old in villages and 
small towns. 
In comparing the following figures it must be remembered that in 
some instances the milk is collected as it reaches -the city, while 
in other instances, corresponding to our work in Washington, the 
samples were taken as they reached the consumer. Bacteria 
multiply enormously between the time the milk arrives in a city and 
the time it is delivered to the consumer. 
Von Geuns a in 1885 was the first to give us information concern- 
ing the number of bacteria contained in milk. He found 10,545 
bacteria per cubic centimeter in the so-called pasteurized milk sold 
in Amsterdam. 
Clauss, * * 6 1889, made eight examinations of the fresh dairy milk of 
Wurzburg in the winter of 1888-89 and found the average bacterial 
content to be between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000, the lowest count 
being 222,000 and the highest 2,300,000. The author says that 
Hohenkamp c in the summer, in Wurzburg, found the bacterial con- 
tent to range between 1,900,000 and 7,200,000 per cubic centimeter. 
Cnof, d 1889, working with Escherich, found in the milk of Munich, 
as it came to the hands of the consumer five to six hours after the 
milking, that the bacterial content ranged between 200,000 and 
6,000,000 per cubic centimeter; a few moments after milking the 
number ranged between 60,000 and 100,000 per cubic centimeter. 
Renk, e 1891, found between 6,000,000 and 30,700,000 bacteria per 
cubic centimeter in the milk supply of Halle. Further, from a series 
of 30 tests it was found that an average of 15 milligrams of cow’s 
“Yon Geuns, J.: Ueber die Einwirkung des sog. ‘ ‘ Pasteuricirens” auf die Milch. 
Arch. f. Hyg., vol. 3, 1885, p. 464. 
& Clauss, Johannes: Bacteriologische Untersuchungen der Milch im Winter 1888- 
89 in Wurzburg mit besonderer Berucksichtigung der Milchsaure Bildenden Bac- 
terien. Inaug. disserta., Wurzburg, 1889. 38 p. 8°. 
c Hohenkamp: Arch. f. Hyg., vol. 14, p. 260. 
d Cnof: Quantitative Spaltpilzuntersuchungen in der Kuhmilch. Cent. f. Bakt., 
vol. 20, 1889, p. 553. 
e Renk: Ueber Martmilch in Halle. Munch, med. Woch., 1891. Rev. by Esche- 
rich, Cent. f. Bakt., vol. 10, 1891, p. 193. 
1414— Bull. 56—09 29 
