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  [Illustration: THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD AND HER SON

  Baba Vasilka is 126 years old, and her son Tudor is 101.
  They are peasants, and have lived all their lives in a
  little village in Bulgaria. They are typical examples of
  people who live to a great age by the use of soured milk,
  as it has been their principal food all their lives.]


                         The
                Bacillus of Long Life

  A Manual of the Preparation and Souring of Milk for
    Dietary Purposes, Together with an Historical
     Account of the Use of Fermented Milks, from
        the Earliest Times to the Present Day,
         and Their Wonderful Effect in the
           Prolonging of Human Existence

                         By
             Loudon M. Douglas, F.R.S.E.

               _With 62 Illustrations_


                 G. P. Putnam's Sons
                 New York and London
               The Knickerbocker Press
                        1911


                  _Revised Edition_


                    COPYRIGHT, 1911
                         BY
                  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS


             The Knickerbocker Press, New York




PREFACE


This book has been designed with a view to meet an extensive demand for
definite data on the subject of Soured Milks. The author has had this
matter brought before him, times without number, by those inquiring for
authentic information on the subject, and he has therefore considered it
desirable to gather together such information as is available in
connection with ancient and modern practice. He has endeavoured to
present this to the reader in concise form.

The author is indebted to many friends for their assistance in getting
the book together, and would specially mention Dr. H. B. Hutchinson,
Bacteriologist, Rothamsted Experimental Station, for assistance in
connection with the bacteriology of fermented milks; Mr. Thomas Douglas,
of Wimbledon, who has assisted with the chemistry of the subject; Mr. S.
Javrilovitch, of Belgrade, Servia, for local information and
illustrations; Dr. Otokar Laxa, Bacteriologist, of Prague, Bohemia, for
general assistance; the editor of _Bacteriotherapy_, New York, U.S.A.,
for the use of the group of illustrations 30-44; the publishers of the
_Centralblatt fuer Bakteriologie_, Jena, for the group of illustrations
14-29; and many others, some of whom are referred to in the text.


  CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                    PAGE

     I.--INTRODUCTORY--HISTORICAL                               1

    II.--FERMENTED MILKS                                       15

   III.--THE CHEMISTRY OF MILK                                 47

    IV.--HANDLING OF MILK                                      68

     V.--THE BACTERIOLOGY OF FERMENTED OR SOURED MILK          84

    VI.--THE PREPARATION OF SOURED MILK IN THE HOUSE          125

   VII.--THE PREPARATION OF SOURED MILK IN THE DAIRY          139

  VIII.--SOURED MILK IN HEALTH AND DISEASE                    151

         INDEX                                                165




ILLUSTRATIONS


  FIG.                                                       PAGE

       THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD AND HER SON   _Frontispiece_

       THE PASS OF BUKOVA                                       2

       KABYLES SOURING MILK                                     4

       THE HANDLING OF MILK IN THE PYRENEES                     8

       THE CONSTITUENTS OF MILK                                48

   1.--MICRO-PHOTOGRAPH OF A DROP OF WHOLE MILK                58

   2.--MICRO-PHOTOGRAPH OF SEPARATED MILK                      58

   3.--MICRO-PHOTOGRAPH OF CREAM                               58

   4.--PHOTOGRAPH OF TWO PETRI DISHES, WHICH HAVE BEEN
         INOCULATED WITH ORDINARY MILK                         60

   5.--THE CREAMOMETER                                         62

   6.--TESTING-GLASS FOR EXTRANEOUS MATTER IN MILK             62

   7.--LACTOMETER AND TEST-GLASS                               64

   8.--PASTEURISER                                             78

   9.--CONTINUOUS APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LARGE
         QUANTITIES OF SOURED MILK                             82

  10.--A MILK-FILLING APPARATUS                                90

  11.--SECTION THROUGH A KEPHIR GRAIN                          94

  12.--_Streptococcus lacticus_ (GROTENFELDT) GROWING ON
          LACTOSE-AGAR, STAINED BY GRAM'S METHOD               96

  13.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF PREPARATION FROM ARMENIAN SOURED
         MILK (MATZOON)                                       106

  14.--GRANULE BACILLUS FROM YOGHOURT. SHREDDED PREPARATION
         OF A FRESH SKIM-MILK CULTURE                         110

  15.--GRANULE BACILLUS FROM YOGHOURT, CULTIVATED AFTER
         THE USUAL AGAR METHOD                                110

  16.--GRANULE BACILLUS FROM YOGHOURT. AGAR MILK SUGAR
         CULTURE                                              110

  17.--_Bacteria W._ FROM MILK, CULTIVATED TWENTY-FOUR
          HOURS                                               110

  18.--AGAR MILK SUGAR CULTURE. FROM THE ORIGINAL BULGARIAN
         YOGHOURT                                             112

  19.--AGAR MILK SUGAR CULTURE. SURFACE COLONY OF GRANULE
         BACILLUS FROM CALF'S STOMACH                         112

  20.--AGAR MILK SUGAR CULTURE. DEEP-LYING COLONY
         OF GRANULE BACILLUS FROM CALF'S STOMACH              112

  21.--AGAR MILK SUGAR. COLONY OF _Bacterium W._ FROM
         YOGHOURT                                             112

  22.--TWO COLONIES OF _Bacillus Acidophilus_ FROM CALVES'
         MANURE                                               114

  23.--BEER-WORT GELATINE                                     114

  24.--SHREDDED PREPARATION OF BULGARIAN ORIGINAL YOGHOURT    114

  25.--GRANULE BACILLUS FROM YOGHOURT. CULTIVATED IN SKIM
         MILK IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS                            114

  26.--_Bacteria W._, AGAR MILK SUGAR CULTURE                 116

  27.--_Bacteria acidophilus_ FROM CALVES' MANURE             116

  28.--MUCUS FROM CALF'S STOMACH INOCULATED INTO MILK AFTER
         EIGHT TRANSFERRINGS                                  116

  29.--DIPLOSTREPTOCOCCUS FROM YOGHOURT. PURE CULTURE IN
         SKIM MILK                                            116

  30.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF PREPARATION MADE FROM YOGHOURT,
         SHOWING YEAST CELLS                                  118

  31.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SMEAR FROM GREEK CURDLED MILK
         CALLED "GIAOURTI"                                    118

  32.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SOURED MILK INOCULATED WITH
         A TABLET CONTAINING VIABLE AND PURE CULTURES OF
        _Bacillus bulgaricus_                                 120

  33.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF MILK INOCULATED WITH A FERMENT
         TABLE IN WHICH _Bacillus bulgaricus_ IS NO LONGER
         VIABLE                                               120

  34.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SMEAR OF CULTURE OF _Bacillus
         bulgaricus_                                          122

  35.--_Bacillus bulgaricus_, SHOWING THE CULTURES
          IN ENGLISH COW'S MILK                               124

  36.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF PURE CULTURE OF _Bacillus
         bulgaricus_                                          124

  37.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SMEAR OF COMBINED CULTURE
         OF _Bacillus bulgaricus_ AND _Bacteria
         paralacticus_                                        124

  38.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SMEAR OF ONE-MONTH CULTURE
         OF _Bacillus bulgaricus_                             126

  39.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF CULTURE OF _Bacillus bulgaricus_
         IN MALT                                              126

  40.--PHOTO-MICROGRAPH OF SMEAR FROM MILK THAT HAD BEEN
         ALLOWED TO SOUR SPONTANEOUSLY                        126

  41.--PHOTOGRAPH OF AGAR CULTURE, INOCULATED WITH A LACTIC
         POWDER                                               128

  42.--PHOTOGRAPH OF TEST-TUBES OF STERILE MILK, INOCULATED
         WITH A TABLET PREPARATION SAID TO CONTAIN PURE
         CULTURES                                             128

  43.--PHOTOGRAPH OF TEST-TUBES OF STERILE MILK, EACH TUBE
         HAVING BEEN INOCULATED WITH A TABLET OF A
         PREPARATION SAID TO CONTAIN PURE CULTURES            128

  44.--PHOTOGRAPH OF TEST-TUBES OF STERILE MILK INOCULATED
         WITH A TABLET OF "LACTOBACILLINE"                    130

  45.--APPARATUS OF "LE FERMENT" CO.                          129

  46.--SOURED MILK APPARATUS OF THE MAYA BULGARE COMPANY,
         LIMITED                                              130

  47.--LACTIC FERMENTS, LIMITED, APPARATUS                    131

  48.--MESSRS. ALLEN & HANBURY'S SOURED MILK APPARATUS        132

  49.--VIRONELLE APPARATUS FOR SOURING MILK, MADE BY
         MESSRS. CLAY, PAGET & COMPANY, LIMITED               132

  50.--"LACTOBATOR" MADE BY MESSRS. CHARLES HEARSON & CO.,
          LIMITED                                             140

  51.--MESSRS. HEARSON & COMPANY'S "LACTOBATOR"               142

  52.--EDGAR'S "LACTOGENERATOR," SOLD BY THE DAIRY SUPPLY
         CO., LIMITED                                         143

  53.--APPARATUS OF THE WILLOWS REFRIGERATING CO., LIMITED    144

  54.--"LACTO" APPARATUS OF THE DAIRY OUTFIT CO., LIMITED     145

  55.--STERILISING APPARATUS FOR STERILISING MILK ON
         THE LARGE SCALE                                      146

  56.--ANOTHER METHOD OF STERILISING (DAIRY SUPPLY
         CO., LTD.). AN AMERICAN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
         SOURED MILK                                          148

  57.--AN AMERICAN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING SOURED MILK        149




THE BACILLUS OF LONG LIFE




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY--HISTORICAL


The milk industry is one of the oldest known to mankind, and it is
difficult to imagine a time when milk in one way or another did not form
a part of the diet of the human race. There is a good deal of evidence
to show that in Paleolithic and Neolithic times, cattle were part of the
possessions of the nomadic races; and, according to the Vedas, the
manufacture of butter was known in India 1500 years B.C.

In the eastern part of Europe, milk has always been looked upon as one
of the principal kinds of food, but not necessarily the milk of cows,
as, from ancient times to the present day, the milk from camels,
buffaloes, sheep, and goats has been used indiscriminately throughout
the East.

According to Layard,[1] "the Bedouins do not make cheese. The milk of
their sheep and goats is shaken into butter or turned into curds; it is
rarely or never drunk fresh, new milk being thought very unwholesome, as
soon by experience I found it to be, in the desert. I have frequently
had occasion to describe the process of making butter by shaking the
milk in skins. This is also an employment confined to women, and one of
a very laborious nature. The curds are formed by boiling the milk, and
then putting some curds made on the previous day into it and allowing it
to stand. When the sheep no longer give milk, some curds are dried, to
be used as a leaven on a future occasion. This preparation, called
_leben_, is thick and acid, but very agreeable and grateful to the taste
in a hot climate. The sour milk, or _sheneena_, a universal beverage
amongst the Arabs, is either buttermilk pure and diluted, or curds mixed
with water.

  [Illustration: THE PASS OF BUKOVA.--During the revolution
  of 1904, a number of Turkish soldiers, just before
  traversing this pass, were given coffee containing "cafe"
  by a Bulgarian coffee-seller, or keeper of a small khan.
  Whilst in the pass the poison began to take effect, and
  they realized that they had been poisoned. Fortunately for
  them, a peasant with three horses loaded with Yoghourt
  (soured milk) had taken advantage of their escort. The
  soldiers ate freely of the Yoghourt, which counteracted
  the effects of the poison.]

"The camel's milk is drunk fresh. It is pleasant to the taste, rich, and
exceedingly nourishing. It is given in large quantities to the horses.
The Shammar and Aneyza Bedouins have no cows or oxen, those animals
being looked upon as the peculiar property of tribes who have forgotten
their independence, and degraded themselves by the cultivation of land.
The sheep are milked at dawn, or even before daybreak, and again in the
evening on their return from the pastures. The milk is immediately
turned into leben, or boiled to be shaken into butter. Amongst the
Bedouins and Jebours it is considered derogatory to the character of a
man to milk a cow or sheep, but not to milk the camel. The Sheikhs
occasionally obtain dates from the cities. They are eaten dry with bread
and leben, or fried in butter, a very favourite dish of the Bedouin...."

The practice is now the same as it was in scriptural times, when milk
was looked upon as the principal article of diet, and throughout the
Scriptures there are copious references to milk in different forms, some
of which are of peculiar interest at the present day.

It may be noticed, for example, that milk is absent from the sacred
offerings amongst the Hebrews, and this was ascribed by the late
Professor Robertson Smith to the fact that all ferments were excluded
from presentation at the altar,[2] it being recognised that, owing to
the hot climate, milk of all kinds became rapidly sour, and in this way
came to be looked upon as only fit for consumption when in that
condition. It has been suggested that the prohibition referred to is on
the same level as the prohibition of the use of blood, "as milk has
sometimes been regarded as a kind of equivalent for blood, and
containing the sacred life."[3] To this day the wandering tribes of
Arabia consider the milk of their camels and flocks more refreshing when
it has been slightly fermented or soured by being poured into a
milk-skin on the inside of which are still sticking sour clots from the
previous milking, and there shaken for a brief period; but this slightly
soured milk (the _Oxygala_ of Pliny) is known widely in the East simply
as leben (milk). The name is also applied to what we term buttermilk.[4]

  [Illustration: KABYLES SOURING MILK

  In the north of Africa the use of soured milk is common,
  and the illustration shows Kabyles shaking a skin full of
  milk so as to sour it. The skin has previously been used
  for the same operation, and, as a consequence, clots of
  milk are left from the previous day's use, and thus
  fermentation is set up.]

The use of milk-skins for the carrying of milk is not confined to one
country, as, while it is common all over the north of Africa, it is also
known in the Pyrenees and in some parts of the Balkan Peninsula, the
object being identical in each case; and when it is intended to make
butter from the milk, the skin is simply rocked between the knees until
the butter separates, a process of butter-making which was also used
after the introduction of earthenware churns.[5] Dried soured milk is
also used by the Arabs, and it is reconstituted when required by rubbing
it up with a little water, and it is known as _Meeresy_.[6] The ordinary
soured milk is the common article of diet, and is looked upon as being
necessary at every meal, and travellers frequently refer to the use of
this product, as a few references will show.

Charles G. Addison states: "A supper was brought in on a round