497 
so common on the skin and mucous membranes, and in the feces of 
animals should be so often found in cows’ milk. 
In their studies of leucocytes in smears made from milk, Conn and 
Esten (loc. cit.), Bergey (loc. cit.). Heed and Ward,® and others 
noted the number and frequency of occurrence of streptococci. As 
they regarded the leucocytes as evidence of inflammation, the}^ 
placed a similar construction upon the presence of these micro-organ- 
isms; since streptococci are well known to be a common cause of 
septic infection and pus formation. The recent investigations con- 
cerning the nature of the Streptococcus lacticus, a nonpathogenic 
organism, proving it to be indistinguishable, morphologically, from 
the pathogenic streptococci, show that such a conclusion is often in- 
correct. It is easily conceivable that in cases of garget and in septic 
conditions the streptococci associated vnth. pus in the milk may be 
truly pathogenic. In fact, a number of writers in this country and 
abroad have described ^‘outbreaks” following the use of milk con- 
taining streptococci from diseased cows. 
Holst, ^ Stokes and Wegefarth,^' Beck,^^ Lameris and Von Harre- 
velt,^ Kenwood,^ Savage,^ and many others saw epidemics of sore 
throat mth swelling of the cervical glands, colic, diarrhea, and fever 
lasting several days, which were ascribed to the use of milk from 
cows with garget. Such milk when examined was found to contain 
pus and streptococci in great abundance. Holst in an experiment 
upon himself drank 200 cubic centimeters of a culture of a strepto- 
coccus isolated from such a milk during an outbreak, and became ill 
%vith colic and diarrhea. 
Petruschky and KriebeH and Holling^' see in the streptococci 
found in milk a cause of summer diarrhea in children. 
As regards the relationship between the numbers of leucocytes and 
streptococci, most writers agree that in mastitis the milk usually 
contains both in abundance. There is a difference of opinion concern- 
ing their relationship in milk from healthy cattle; Bergey and 
Trommsdorff finding a simultaneous increase or diminution, whereas 
Savage and others do not. 
The manifest advantages to be gained from a knowledge of the 
pathogenic or nonpathogenic properties of the streptococci in milk 
a Ref. Centralb. f. Bakt., Abt. 1, 1903, Bd. XXX, S. 83. 
b Ref. Baumgartens Jahresber., 1895, S. 52. 
cMed. News, 1897, vol. 71, No. 2, p. 45. 
^ Deutsches Vierteljahrschr. f. offentl. Gesundheitspfl. Heft III, S. 430. 
^Zeitschr. f. Fleisch. u. Milch. Hyg., 1901, Bd. 11, S. 114. 
/Brit. Med. Joiirn. 1904, No. 1, p. 602. 
Joum. of Hyg., 1906, vol. 6, p. 123. 
^ Die Ursachen der Sommersterblichkeit der Sauglinge u. die Moglichkeit ihrer Ver- 
hiitung, Leipzig, 1904. 
tinaiig. Diss. Boniij 1904. 
45276°— Bull. 56—12 32 
