tablets (Rennet Tablets and Junket Tablets). The characteristics and use of rennet are described under "Cheese Making" in Chapter III.
Pepsin is another enzyme the office of which in the process of digestion is to dissolve albuminoids. It is not considered identical with rennet though in an acid solution it will curdle milk. It occurs in the stomachs of grown animals fed on solid food and is usually produced from hogs' stomachs. Bacteria
Everywhere, in the air, in water, in the soil, and clinging to every object in the world, are minute organisms known under the common names of bacteria or microbes. In contrast to rennet and the other "unorganized" ferments, bacteria belong to the "organized" class. Some are harmful, producing putrefaction, dissolution, poisons or disease; others are beneficial, leading to desirable fermentations and changes; others again are indifferent, neither good nor bad, but harmless.
As the milk comes from the cow it is almost free from bacteria, but milk makes an excellent soil for many of these organisms to grow in, and they soon get in, to multiply with enormous rapidity at any temperature from 60° to 100° F.
Lactic Acid Bacilli are bacteria of special importance
to the dairyman, for they convert sugar of milk into
lactic acid and produce various more or less agreeable
flavors. They are also powerful germicides and scavengers,
destroying or neutralizing the products of other
bacteria which in the absence of these bacteria and the
