Every consumer of milk has doubtless observed the presence of more or less foreign matter at the bottom of the bottle in which it is kept; indeed, it is a matter of such common occurrence that it hardly excites our attention, and many are disposed to look on it as a matter of course. Professor Soxhlet of Munich was perhaps the first to point out that these deposits are largely made up of the excrementitious matter from the cow, which adhering to the udder of the animal, gained access to the bucket during the act of milking.
If these sediments are subjected to microscopical examination we will find that they are composed of epithelial débris, hairs of the cow. organic and inorganic dust particles, excrementitious matter, vegetable fibers, bacteria, fungi and spores of every description: fully 90 per cent. of the germs are fecal bacilli—all of which is not only