APPLICATIONS OF BACTERIOLOGY tN EUROPE. Sti 
people say that they prefer to drink no milk rather than to 
drink milk that has been thus treated. Moreover, not infre- 
quently the appearance of the milk is changed from a white 
to a brownish color, and this adds to the hesitation with which 
many people drink such milk. These are doubtless minor 
matters, since one’s taste could be modified if the practice 
should become necessary. 
Secondly, it is found that even with the very best of 
methods the sterilization is not absolutely sure. It is true 
that in the vast majority of specimens thus treated the milk is 
sterile and may be kept for an indefinite length of time. It is 
true, also, that in all cases the true disease germs are de- 
stroyed by this temperature. But it is also true that in a small 
number of cases the milk thus treated still retains certain 
bacteria spores which subsequently grow in the milk and pro- 
duce very decided effects upon it so that the milk does not 
keep for the length of time expected. The serious matter in 
this connection is that the changes that are produced in the 
milk by these resisting germs are, as a rule, such as do not 
appeal to the eye, and perhaps not to the taste, so that the 
milk may be full of bacteria and may have its chemical char- 
acter quite decidedly changed and yet be swallowed freely 
with the belief that it is perfectly normal. Now, while these 
resisting germs are not true disease germs, there are among 
them some which produce certain poisonous products giving 
rise to intestinal troubles, and it sometimes happens, there- 
fore, or at least this is the belief of some bacteriologists, that 
the so-called sterilized milk may, in spite of the high heat, give 
rise to intestinal troubles among children that are fed upon it. 
The serious factor in this matter is that the eye and the taste 
detect no difference between such milk and milk that is abso- 
lutely sterilized. 
Lastly, it appears to be pretty generally believed that milk 
that has been thus sterilized at high heat is somewhat less 
digestible and less easily assimilated than raw milk. Over 
this matter there has been and is still considerable dispute, but 
probably the balance of evidence indicates that there is a 
slight inferiority in the value of such milk as food. 
These objections have led to the dislike of sterilized milk 
on the part of many, and to the adoption of the method of 
pasteurization which is at the present time gaining a firm foot- 
hold in certain localities. 
