Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/653

* STERILIZED FOOD. 559 STERNBERG. tle8, sealed, and maintained at a low tempera- ture. Ice may be the means of carrying disease, since many bacteria, although retarded in their growth, are not killed by freezing. Milk is the food around which the question of sterilization centres, because it is the sole nourishment of infants ami swarms with bac- teria, particularly during the summer months. Although it comes sterile from the breast of the suckling mother or the udder of the health}- cow, milk is almost a perfect culture medium for many varieties of bacteria, pathogenic and non- pathogenic, which multiply with astonisliing ra- pidity. It may become coutaminated during the interval betweeu milking and ingestion in vari- ous ways. Unclean materials may be introduced into the milk from the udders of the cow or the milker's hands. Impure water used either as an adulterant or for cleansing containers may be a means of contamination. Typhoid fever has been proved to have been conveyed in this manner. Exposure to the air alone is sufficient to intro- duce, through dust, many different forms of bac- terial life. The diseases most likely to be propagated through milk are typhoid fe'er, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, cholera, suppuration, and especially the summer diarrhoea of children. Besides pro- ducing their specific diseases bacteria produce poisonous elements in milk which are capable of giving rise to ptomaine poisoning (q.v. ) in indi- viduals who drink it. It has been proposed at various times to prevent the development of germs in milk by the addition of non-poisonous antiseptic substances. But it has been found that even with such drugs as salicylic acid and boric acid quantities too large to be wholesome must be employed. Formalin has been exten- sively used of late years to keep milk sweet and aseptic. Cold is a very imperfect means of sterilization. A low temperature retards devel- opment of bacteria for a time, but does not destroy them nor their spores. Milk is usually sterilized by boiling or by exposure to superheated steam. Germs existing in this fluid can be absolutely destroyed only by heating to 212° F. or higher on two or three suc- cessive occasions. The ordinary method of steril- izing milk is to place it in sealed jars or bottles containing sufficient for one feeding, which are then subjected to the action of steam. It is then cooled rapidly, kept sealed from the air, and placed on ice until needed. Exposiu'e to such high temperatures alters the character of milk very materially, both as to its digestibility and nutritive qualities, and it is therefoi'e ren- dered unfit for use except as a makeshift in very hot weather and in cases of infantile summer diarrhoea. Prolonged use of sterilized milk for children dependent solely upon it for nutriment has resulted in svmptoms of scur'y. To obviate this difficulty milk is often subjected to a process known as pasteurization. This consists in heat- ing it to a temperature of 167° F. and maintain- ing it at this point for a period of twenty min- utes. Pasteurization has been shown to be suf- ficient to kill the microiirganisms most common- ly found in milk, and in particular those giving rise to diarrhteal diseases, which are very vul- nerable to heat. Spores, however, are not de- stroyed. The tubercle bacillus is more resistant, but, as has been said before, tuberculosis is not often conveyed by milk. Pasteurized milk will keep two or three days at ordinary temperatures or several days on ice, and its taste, digesti- bility, and nutritive value are believed to be un- changed. Sec Ara LTEKATioN ; Milk. STERLING. An epithet generally applied to the coinage of Great Britain. Charlc^nagne suiierseded earlier systems by a coinage in which a pouud of 12 ounces became the money weight. The older silfer or scruple of 2-1 wheat-corns being superseiled by the penny of 32 wheat-corns, the term sterling seems to have been applied to the latter, in consequence of its being in use among the Ripuarian or Austrasian Franks, sometimes called the Esterlinys. In Kngland the word 'sterling' came in the course of time to in- dicate the fineness of the silver. The superiority of the English standard silver was generally acknowledged over Europe; and hence the ad- jective 'sterling' has become a synonym for 'pure' or "genuine.' STERLING, ster'Iing. A city in Whiteside County, 111., 109 miles west of Chicago, on Kock River, and on the Chicago and Northwestern and the Cliicago, Burlington and Quincy rail- roads (Map: Illinois, C 2). It is of considerable industrial importance, having good water power. The principal manufactures are agricultural im- plements, caskets, watches, canned goods, flour, paper, and foundry and machine-shop products. There is a public library with more than 9000 volumes. Population, in 1890, 5824; in 1900, 6309. STERLING, JoHX (1806-44). An English author, born on the island of Bute, He was educated at Glasgow and at Cambridge. He went to London and began writing for the Athe- nct'iim. Owing to ill health, he passed two vears in the West Indies ( 1830-32) . Returning to'Eng- land, he took orders and served eight months as a curate. In 1838 he formed the Anon^nnous (afterwards the Sterling) Club, which included Lord Houghton, Carlyle. and Tennyson. Among his writings are Arthur Coningshy (1833), Poems (1839), The Election, a poem (1841), and Strafford, a drama (1843). Sterling, a man of many friends, cut down with consumption in the prime of life, has been immortalized by Carlyle in a Life (Boston, 18.51). Consult Essays and Tales with a memoir by J. C. Hare (London, 1848). STERN, stern, Adolf (183.5—). A German literary historian, bom in Leipzig. He studied at the L^niversities of Leipzig and .Jena, and in 1868 was appointed professor of the history of literature in the Polytechnikum of Dresden. His publications include the compilation Fiinfzig Jahre deutscher Dichtung (1871); two collec- tions of essays, .4ms dem achtzehnten Jahrhun- dcrt (1874) and Zur Litteratur der Gegeiiicart (1880), and his most important work, Ge- schichte der neiiern Litteratvr (7 vols., 1882-85). STERN, D.>nEi,. See Agodlt, Comtesse d'. STERNBERG, stern'berK. A town in Mora- via, Austria, 12 miles north-northeast of Olmiitz (Map: Austria, E 2). It is the chief seat of the Moravian cotton and linen industiy. and there is a large tobacco factory. Population, in inOO. 15,195. STERNBERG, Co^^sT.4.NTm (1852—). A Russian-American pianist and composer, born at Saint Petersburg. In 1871 he became conductor