1902-3.] Bacterial Contamination of Milk. 481 



Contamination from Animal and Milker. 



A prolific source of contamination is from the animal and milker, 

 and the following realistic statement,'''' describes a condition which 

 unhappily is only too common on many farms : — 



"The day has gone by when a pretty milkmaid went, in clean white 

 apron and with shining milk pail, to milk the cow with the crumpled 

 horn, out among the buttercups on a dewy morning. Instead, some old 

 fellow stumbles out of the house and to the barn, with the stump of a 

 clay pipe in his mouth, and wearing overalls and boots saturated and 

 covered with the filth acquired by a winter's use. When he reaches the 

 barn he selects some recumbent cow, kicks her until she stands up 

 dripping and slimy, and as he is a little late and the milk will hardly 

 have time to cool before the man who carries it to the city will come 

 along, he does not stop to clean up behind the cow, but sitting down on 

 a stool, proceeds to gather the milk, and whatever else may fall, into a 

 pail which perhaps is clean and perhaps is not. Of such refinements as 

 washing the udder of the cow or wiping her flanks he has never heard. 

 If he has, it is only to scoff. Then he stands the milk behind the cows. 

 That is bad enough, but it is not all the story. Everyone knows that in 

 straining the milk the strainer becomes obstructed, more or less, with 

 dirt and filth, and when the milk does not run fast enough, he would be 

 a rare milker who hesitated to scrape away a place with his fingers so 

 that the milk might run more freely. Those who have seen certain 

 fingers, as I have, know what that means." 



This description seems hardly credible, but when one visits an 

 ordinary cattle stable, he is prepared to believe almost anything under 

 this head. The hair of cows, even those that are kept very clean, swarms 

 with bacteria. (See Fig. j). Many hundreds may be isolated from a 

 few particles of hair, and this fact alone shows the importance of keeping 

 cows clean, well carded and well brushed. When in this condition, they 

 are not so liable to lose hairs, nor are the hairs so easily dislodged during 

 the movements of milking. The particles of manure and filth which 

 cling to the sides, flank, udder and tail of animals are laden with germ- 

 life. Wuthrich and Freudenreich^^ have found far more bacteria in 

 manure when the animals are given dry food than when kept upon grass, 

 and the most numerous species present were the colon bacillus, the hay 

 bacillus, and other species able to liquefy gelatine, and peptonise casein. 

 Great care should be taken in the construction of cow stalls. If they are 

 too long the hind-quarters of the animal are apt to be plastered with 



