MILK INSPECTION. 
693 
forms a medium that is very favorable to their vegetation. Un¬ 
fortunately there is still another set of germs to be reckoned 
with. I refer to those which gain access to the milk after it is 
drawn from the cow. Most of these fall from the body of the 
cow into the milk during the act of milking. The others are 
those which infect cow sheds, milk utensils, and milk houses 
habitually. Their action may be summarized under these 
heads: 
“ I. Those which make milk, and still more cream, ropy or 
stringy. 
“ 2. Those which produce gases in the milk, the gases appear¬ 
ing as bubbles on the surface. 
“ 3. Those which cause a change of color in the milk, the 
commonest tints being red and blue.” 
Complete avoidance of this species of contamination is diffi¬ 
cult to attain, yet it is more easily avoided than either of the 
others, that is the disease germs and the germs native to the 
milk. The most rigid insistence upon cleanliness and constant 
disinfection will do much to remedy this evil. An excellent 
set of rules bearing on this subject are set forth in Bulletin No. 3 
on “ Milk,” by A. G. McClatchie, of the Agricultural Kxperiment 
Station, Uos Angeles, dated Aug., 1897. Time will not permit 
of their insertion in this paper. 
This completes the long list of microbic milk contamina¬ 
tions. Milk is the most extensively infected of all our common 
foods. The reason of this is that it forms such an excellent 
medium for the multiplication and preservation of microbes. 
They find nourishment in it just as we do. The problem now 
before us is, how to free the milk from bacteria and their spores, 
and at the same time conserve its nourishing and easily assimi¬ 
lative properties. In the first place the animal heat must be 
got rid of at once. Keeping the milk in motion retards micro¬ 
bic germination, and rapid lowering of the temperature to 40 
or 50 Fahr., will check it, but will not affect the spores. The 
most perfect device for this purpose would be one by which the 
milk was kept running over an ice cold surface until that 
