NEw YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 35 
We place 5 grams of milk or cheese in a pressure bottle with 
about 1oocc. of alcohol and 5 grams of caustic potash. The 
bottle is then heated in an autoclave for half an hour at 230° F. 
(110° C.). The resulting chloride is determined by titration as for 
chlorine in sodium chloride. 
CURDLING OF MILK IN PRESENCE OF CHLOROFORM. 
In studying enzym action in milk, considerable interest attaches 
to the interval before curdling and also to the character of the 
curd. The appearance of sour, curdled milk is so familiar as to 
need no description.: This is the characteristic result of germ 
action, and, where an inefficient antiseptic is added, curdling will 
occur within a few days. Acid formation is practically an invari- 
able accompaniment of such change. 
When the antiseptic is efficient, the milk remains unchanged 
for two to three months, depending somewhat upon the temper- 
ature. The milk then changes to a soft jelly which is readily 
broken up on shaking. This soft coagulum differs so markedly 
from the ordinary curd due to germ action that it often escapes. 
observation. Miintz, who was studying the influence of chloro- 
form, in an effort to distinguish between organized and unorgan- 
ized ferments, held milk four months under the influence of 
chloroform and did not note that it curdled. Salkowski (2) did 
observe that after some time (rather regularly, three months) 
chloroformed milk changed to a soft jelly, which could be broken 
up by vigorous shaking. He also stated that Meissner had 
observed the same change in sterile milk and had ascribed it to 
a slow-acting rennet ferment. 
Again, when sterile milk stands undisturbed for a year or 
more, the solids gradually settle leaving a thin layer of serum 
at the top. This seems to be merely a mechanical separation,~ 
and on being shaken the milk resumes its usual appearance. 
SOLUBILITY OF CHLOROFORM. 
It seems fairly evident that, to be efficient as a germicide, chloro- 
form must be in solution. Salkowski (2) noted that, when a drop 
of the culture which was being tested remained on the side of the 
tube above the level of the liquid, the germs escaped the action 
of the chloroform. This was also shown in the experiments of 
Smith (1), where the presence of a body of chloroform at the 
bottom of the tube of culture medium did not prevent germ 
growth in the upper layers of the same tube. 
