For keeping both fresh and soured milk good a small ice-chest is an excellent device. The germs which are continually dropping into milk kept in open vessels in the air, even in cleanly surroundings, are mostly kept out in the close ice-chest, and the low temperature prevents in a natural way the development of the bacterial germs already in the milk. For the preservation of all kinds of foods the ice-chest is a capital investment, not to mention the benefit of having cooled drinks, etc., as required. They manage things well in this respect in the United States, where ice is regarded as a necessity in the summer time by even the poorest people, and is delivered with the same regularity as the milk. It is necessary to utter a word of warning as to certain forms in which the sour milk bacillus is being offered to the public. It is being compounded with sugar, chocolate, and other articles, and sold in the form of sweets, etc. There is no reliable proof that these preparations are valuable. Certainly, sugar is a medium in which the lactifying germs can live, but the quantity so introduced into the system must be very small compared with what is obtained from properly fermented milk. It takes some time, even with strong cultures, to fix the acid-producing germs in the large bowel where they are wanted, and until proper evidence is forthcoming that confectionery preparations are efficacious we would recommend that only the regularly fermented milk be used. It would save trouble, no doubt, to treat oneself with a few chocolate creams containing the necessary germs daily, but if the matter is taken up seriously it will be better to take some pains and stick to methods the efficacy of which has been demonstrated, leaving the others until their _bona fides_ has been proved. There are always enterprising firms who are prepared to simplify things for us, but we must make sure that their simplifications are warranted. CHAPTER VII THE PREPARATION OF SOURED MILK IN THE DAIRY