DAIRY MEETING. 149 



handles milk under such conditions, is in the same class as the 

 man who shoots you, or who puts poison into your food. Once 

 we get milk from a healthy cow, milked by a healthy person, we 

 get a milk which, aside from diarrhoeas produced by the normal 

 intestinal bacteria of the cow, will not cause disease. 



With the cow and the persons who handle milk eliminated as 

 sources of infectious disease, our problem is to exclude from 

 the milk the dirt and bacteria that may enter it from the dust, 

 manure, air and flies. 



The first step to be taken is to look to our stables. If the 

 cow be allowed to lie in her manure we must expect dried 

 flakes of this substance to be found upon her udder and flanks. 

 If the manure and urine be allowed to accumulate at all in the 

 stable we must expect to find dried particles of it floating in 

 the air, into which it is thrown by every motion of the cow or 

 milker. If the walls and ceilings are covered with cobwebs we 

 must expect every current of air to shake down from them dust, 

 which will be loaded with dirt from the cow, from the floor and 

 from the hay. If hay is pitched down to the cow immediately 

 before milking we must expect the dust and chaft', loaded with 

 bacteria from the hay, to fall into the milk. 



If the cow be milked in the condition in which she rises from 

 her bed, without having lier sides and flanks brushed down, or 

 her udder wiped ofl:", we must expect dried manure and floor dirt 

 to fall into the milk, as it cannot help being shaken ofif from her 

 with every motion of her body or tail, and by every motion of 

 the milker. If this man does his milking — and he usually does — 

 in the clothes in which he has done the feeding of the cattle 

 and the cleaning out of the stalls, we must expect practically 

 the same kind of dirt to fall from his hands and clothes, as will 

 fall from the cow herself. Ths dirt carries upon itself the in- 

 testinal bacteria from the cow, which will set up diarrhoeal dis- 

 turbances in the users of the raw milk; and also carries those 

 acid forming bacteria, which are always present in stable air, 

 and which will cause souring of the milk. IMoulds from the 

 hay may here enter, to cause later trouble. 



If we wish to bring clean milk from the stable we must have 

 clean stables, and clean milkers. I do not mean that we must 

 have stables as clean as the rooms of our homes, but they must 

 be free from the forms of filth above mentioned. The cow must 

 he brusherl down long enough before milking to allow all dust 



