692 
JAMES HENDERSON. 
the camel’s back, but if it were found necessary the benefited 
public might not be unwilling to pay a slightly advanced price 
for what would be a vastly improved product. 
Let me remind you that the innocuous milk does not mean 
milk which is entirely free from bacteria. Many observers have 
proved that milk has, as Dr. Moore says, its “ natural bacterial 
flora.” 
It appears that the milk first drawn from one quarter of a 
cow’s udder contains about 90,000 bacteria to the c. c. 
That of the middle milking contains 9000 per c. c., while 
that of the last milking may contain about 500 per c. c., or may 
be free of them altogether. 
Dr. Moore in the 12th and 13th annual report of the Bureau 
of Animal Industry for 1895-96 summarizes their nature as 
follows: 
“ The bacteria which become localized in the milk ducts, 
and which are necessarily carried into the milk, are for the 
greater part rapidly acid-producing organisms, i. e.^ they ferment 
milk sugar, forming acids. They do not produce gas. Bacillus 
coli communis and other gas producing bacteria sometimes 
found in the market milk are presumably the result of external 
contamination. The fact that sugar fermenting bacteria are 
ordinarily present in freshly drawn milk renders it necessary if 
its normal composition is to be retained, that it should be pas¬ 
teurized,as soon as possible after it is drawn. This is necessary, 
regardless of the cleanliness of the stable, milking utensils, and 
surroundings generally. Much of the reported intestinal 
troubles arising from feeding infants ordinarily pasteurized milk 
is undoubtedly due to the presence of acids produced before the 
pasteurization by sugar fermenting bacteria derived from the 
milk ducts. These germs in themselves are non-pathogenic. 
They are only nocuous, inasmuch as they decompose the solids 
of the milk. They have therefore only to be considered as 
regards the preservation of the milk. Their multiplication and 
specific action can be checked by rapidly cooling the milk to 40 
or 50 Fahr., as soon as it is drawn, for the gradually cooling milk 
