678  Electrical  Sterilization  of  Milk.       { ^Sp/ember!*Y92o: 
and  potpourri  as  well  as  a  cure  for  sleeplessness;  broom  and  elder 
flowers  will  follow  and  many  others. 
A  mill  at  Blackenham  purchases  the  collections  and  prepares 
them  for  the  market.  The  prices  per  pound  at  the  mill  for  such 
dried  flowers  are:  Cowslips  (heads  only),  2  cents;  broom  flowers,  6 
cents;  elder  heads,  i  cent,  with  florets  picked  off,  5  cents;  lime,  8 
cents;  mullein  and  mallow,  8  cents;  bergamot  (flowers  without 
calyx),  12  cents;  lavender — on  stalks,  12  cents,  rubbed  off  stalks, 
61  cents;  dark  red  peony  petals,  10  cents;  dark  red  rose  petals,  6 
cents;  red  field  poppy  petals,  8  cents;  mullein  leaves,  2  cents;  rasp- 
berry leaves,  i  cent;  sage,  mint,  balm,  agrimony,  and  woodruff  (whole 
herbs),  2  cents.  Thyme  brings  36  cents  per  14  pounds.  (From 
Commerce  Reports,  May  10,  1920.) 
ELECTRICAL  STERILIZATION  OF  MILK.* 
By  Alfred  Nutting, 
civerk  in  american  consui.ate  generai.,  london,  england,  may  12,  i920. 
A  Special  report  has  just  been  issued  by  the  British  Medical 
Research  Committee,  dealing  with  the  destruction  of  bacteria  in 
milk  by  electricity.  In  the  introduction  it  is  pointed  out  that  the 
earliest  description  of  an  electrical  method  having  this  purpose  in 
view  was  published  by  the  Liverpool  (England)  Corporation  in  191 5, 
the  investigator  being  Prof.  J.  Martin  Beattie,  of  the  University 
of  Liverpool.  Subsequently  independent  trials  of  the  method  were 
undertaken  at  Birmingham,  and  the  opinion  of  the  committee  is 
that  these  latter  experiments,  while  supporting  the  practical  re- 
sults obtained  at  Liverpool,  did  not  entirely  prove  whether  the  elec- 
trical current  in  the  method  adopted  had  a  directly  bactericidal 
action  or  acted  as  a  thermal  agent.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  inclined  to 
the  latter  view. 
The  report  itself  has  been  prepared  by  Profs.  Beattie  and  Lewis, 
both  of  Liverpool  University,  and  enumerates  the  results  of  15 
experiments  under  varying  conditions,  with  different  degrees  of 
current  and  with  several  qualities  of  milk,  as  well  as  showing  two 
types  of  apparatus  used.  The  final  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the 
investigators  are: 
Milk  can  be  rendered  free  from  B.  coli  and  B.  tuberculosis  by  the 
new  electrical  method  described  without  raising  the  temperature 
*  From  Commerce  Reports,  June  10,  1920. 
