
BACTERIA IN THE DAIRY. 27 
Third.—A considerable portion of the species found are pos- 
itively favorable in their influence upon the butter. Of the 
sixty-eight species tested, twenty produced butter that has 
been described in our notes as good flavored. Of course the 
flavor was somewhat variable and its good character, while 
sometimes striking, was at other times moderate. It was not 
always the typical butter flavor and yet .was such an approxi- 
mation toward it that the butter would be regarded as of a 
good quality. 
Fourth.—A smaller number of species produced injurious 
effects upon the butter; eighteen species among the sixty-eight 
tested have been described as producing butter that was bad, 
or poor, or strong flavored, or disagreeable; various adjectives 
being used to indicate the different effects. Some times the 
poor flavor was a putrefactive taste, in other cases it was a 
bitter taste; in others, again, a strong sour taste; while in still 
others the effect was of a peculiar indescribable character. In 
many of these eighteen species the pleasant flavor was very 
slight, and probably insufficient to materially injure the butter. 
FLAVOR INDEPENDENT OF ACID. 
Fifth.—Of the species of bacteria producing good flavors in 
the butter, many were of the acid-producing class. Ot the 
twenty above mentioned, nine were lactic organisms. On 
the other hand, eleven were among the class which would 
be described as alkaline species, by which it is meant that they 
either produced an alkaline reaction in the milk or produced no 
change in its reaction. They are at all events distinctly not 
acid forms. Seven among them liquefy gelatine and are, 
therefore, among what are called the putrefactive bacteria. In 
thus speaking of the flavor, we have always tried to carefully 
distinguish flavor from acid taste. The flavors produced by 
the acid species (leaving out of account the sour taste resulting 
from the acid), and those produced by the other class were not 
particularly different. Independent of the acid it is doubtful 
whether there was enough difference in the flavors produced 
by the two classes of organisms to enable us to separate them 
from each other in this way. 
- Sixth.—Of the eighteen species described as producing in- 
jurious effects upon the flavor of the butter, nine belonged to 
