might consist of a thermometer with platinum wires fused
through the stem at the proper temperature, say 100 deg. F. When the
mercury rises to this figure it will complete the circuit of a battery
which will actuate certain well-known devices for turning off the current
which actuates the radiator. In this way a very fine automatic
arrangement would be achieved. Steam pipes might be used instead of the
radiator, and the thermometer above described could be used in this case
also, with appliances to cut off the steam.

On the large scale, labour-saving appliances, such as the mechanical
brush jar and bottle washer, and the automatic filler for jars or
bottles, would be employed, and an overhead trackway for carrying the
trays of jars from the steriliser to the incubator would be a great
convenience. A further adjunct of considerable importance would be a
cold room, worked either by ice or a refrigerating machine, in which the
jars could be stored after incubation, so as to arrest the process of
lactification, and maintain the soured milk in good condition until
required for use.

CHAPTER VIII

SOURED MILK IN HEALTH AND DISEASE

When people are ill the best thing they can do is to place themselves in
the hands of the doctor, who will try to regulate their lives, including
their diet, in accordance with the conditions which science suggests as
the most likely to lead to their recovery.

It is not the aim of this book to teach persons who should be under
medical treatment to doctor themselves; soured milk may or may not be
beneficial in their case--that is for the medical man to say; and
further, if it should be beneficial the doctor ought to have its
preparation under his control. Slight differences in quality and purity
may count for much in cases of acute disease, differences which might
not matter to the person who requires no medical attention, and who
consumes the article as a health-giving food. A considerable body of
evidence is already on record as to the potency in certain cases of
soured milk as a curative agent, and it seems to have taken its place in
medicine as a recognised remedy.

There is a wide field of usefulness, however, outside of the strictly
medical one. Professor Metchnikoff has collected many striking examples
of individuals and peoples inhabiting different parts of the world, who
thrive, and in many cases attain to a great age, and whose diet consists
largely of soured milk. He has