EoBEETON. — Milk as a Vclticlc of Viaease. 573 



influence on the chikl ; or tliey ensue from tlie use of milk 

 from cows themselves in a bad state of health. But the usual 

 fault on the part of the milk causing digestive disturbance is 

 that it lias become fermented — it has been exposed to the 

 influence of germs which have set up a fermentative process, 

 the products of which are irritating to the stomach and 

 bowels. 



If milk is kept from the action of germs it remains good, 

 and, although germs must enter it if exposed to the air, still 

 the probability of a sufiicient number of germs of the kinds 

 necessary to cause harmful fennentation, getting access to it, 

 is much lessened if only cle'anliness is observed in connection 

 with the operations of milking, distributing, and storing the 

 milk. 



The surroundings of a milking-shed of the ordinary type 

 are by no means fitted to insure cleanliness. The cows 

 usually, at any rate in winter-time, have to splash through 

 mud and filth to reach the shed. The milking is done by 

 hands not over-clean, and -without cleansing the teats. The 

 buckets in which the milk is first placed are cleansed by being 

 rinsed in water the purity of which w^ould not stand the test 

 required to establish it as fit for drinking by man ; the same 

 wdth regard to the cleansing of the cans in which the milk is 

 conveyed to the consumers. These cans, too, are often not 

 dust-proof, which is a by no means unimportant essential in a 

 place where, as in Auckland, so little attention is paid to the 

 thorough laying of the dust which rises from the filth of the 

 streets. Even when milk has reached the consumer's house 

 it has yet to run the risk of exposure to dust in vessels pro- 

 bably themselves imperfectly cleaned ; the wonder, indeed, is 

 that so little milk is actually spoiled by becoming soured. 



Sourness, however, is not a test as to whether milk is 

 harmful or not. The germ which causes ordinary sourness of 

 milk is not particularly harmful ; but usually associated with 

 it are others with a more noxious influence. These, indeed, 

 may be present although the milk remains quite sweet. 



The ills resulting in children from the use of fermented 

 milk are to be avoided, in the first place, by having the 

 utmost care for cleanliness — by seeing that the teats of the 

 cow, the hands of the milker, all cans and other utensils 

 through which the milk may pass, are thoroughly and well 

 cleaned. All water used for the purpose should be such as is 

 fit for man to drink. It is strange that folk most fastidious as 

 to the water that passes their lips should yet wash their milk- 

 cans in water from a source into which, perhaps, the drainage 

 of the stockyard passes. I have seen such a state of things on 

 more than one occasion. In first-class dairies in Britain it is 

 usual not only to rinse the cans with cold water, but, in addi- 



