138 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



irremediable. Many enterprising milk dealers have already demon- 

 strated the enormous improvement that can be brought about in the 

 quality of milk by attention to simple details of collection and trans- 

 portation. A high authority says of the present New York City milk 

 supply : ' ' There is an inexcusable lack of cleanliness in the methods of 

 procuring milk and of care in sufficiently cooling and keeping it dur- 

 ing its transportation. Even in the matter of sending milk to the 

 railroad many farmers take twenty-four hours more than is necessary, 

 keeping back one half of their milk in order to save the trouble and 

 expense of making more than one trip each day to the station. ' ' * 



In addition to the dangers and disadvantages arising from the en- 

 trance into milk of the bacteria of decomposition, there is reason to 

 believe that the germs of disease also sometimes find their way into 

 milk. Outbreaks of specific diseases like diphtheria and typhoid fever 

 have been traced to infection of the milk supply, and evidence is accu- 

 mulating that cases of disease from this source are more numerous than 

 formerly supposed. There is good ground for believing that the indis- 

 criminate use of raw milk is one of the most serious sanitary indiscre- 

 tions committed by the average city dweller. The practical difficulties 

 in the way of exercising an adequate supervision and control over the 

 milk supply are often over-estimated by city health authorities. A 

 large amount of time and energy is now devoted to the detection of 

 chemical adulteration and of dilution or 'extension' of the milk, but 

 little or nothing is attempted in regard to the vastly more important 

 matter of protecting the general character of the supply. Much good 

 might be accomplished by the systematic official cooperation of the 

 health authorities with the various associations of milk dealers who are 

 in a position to apply effective pressure to slovenly or wilfully careless 

 producers. The milk dealers and producers as a class are rapidly 

 awakening to the importance of scientific method, and will respqnd 

 readily to any attempt made to bring the results of scientific investi- 

 gation to bear upon their work. In individual instances that have 

 come to the writer's notice, milk dealers, in their eagerness to do the 

 right thing, are actually committing grave sanitary mistakes, and their 

 customers receive no benefit from the dealers' endeavors, because the 

 dealers themselves are not properly guided. Certainly the municipal 

 authorities in some places are not performing their whole duty in this 

 regard. 



The greater general prevalence of infectious diseases among city 

 dwellers as compared with the rural population is a second important 

 respect in which present city conditions are strikingly disadvantageous. 

 The more abundant opportunities for infection that are afforded, in- 

 deed made necessary, by the nature of city life and occupation can not 

 be easily avoided, but at least their exact character can be made known 



* W. H. Park, Journal of Hygiene, July, 1901. 



