60 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



spector, and the sale of the milk from such isolated cows for human 

 consumption should be punished by most severe penalties. 



In fact, the inspection of the milk as it is delivered to the dis- 

 tributors for immediate consumption can only lead to the discovery 

 of dilution — that is, cheating in value — never to the discovery of an 

 unhealthy or absolutely diseased fountain-head, i. e., cow or cows. 



The unquestionable guaranteeing to the public that the cows 

 producing the milk are healthy is, in my opinion, far more a matter 

 of necessity, from a hygienic point of view, than the discovery of a 

 varying degree of watery dilution, always providing the water it- 

 self is pure. In the one case, we have discovered a simple swindle ; 

 in the other, what might prove to be the cause of serious constitu- 

 tional disturbances among the consumers. 



It may not be known to many milk-producers that medicine given 

 internally, and many things, such as salves and dressings, especially 

 those used against insects, applied outwardly, are capable of exert- 

 ing an influence upon milk which is very likely to be disturbing, or 

 even injurious, in a far more serious degree to the consumers. 



The following examples, casually gathered in my reading, will 

 sufficiently testify to this remark : 



Guenther * found antimony in milk after feeding the tartrate 

 to a cow. Harms observed a hemorrhagic diarrhoea in two dogs 

 and three young goats, after feeding them with the milk from a cow 

 which had been given a large dose of the above-mentioned tartrate 

 — forty-six grammes — the day before. 



Ivlink f demonstrated the presence of quicksilver in the milk of 

 a woman afflicted with syphilis, that had been subjected to the blue- 

 ointment treatment. 



According to Henry and Chevallier, cooking-salt, bicarbonate of 

 soda, sulphate of soda, and iodide of potassium, may be discovered 

 in milk when given to animals. 



Twelve cows were so infected by carbolic acid, which had been 

 used in a strong solution to disinfect the stable, that human beings 

 who used the milk, both cooked and uncooked, became sick, but 

 finally recovered. X 



A large number of persons in Rome were poisoned from the 

 use of goat's milk. || The disease, as it appeared in these people, 

 was strongly characteristic of cholera. Some persons recovered in 



* " Jahresbericht d. Thierarzneischule zu Hannover," No. 6, p. 72. 

 f " Vierteljahrsschrift fur Dermatologie u. Syphilis," 1876, p. 207. 

 \ Scholtz, "Preussische Mittheil.," 1874-'75, p. 109. 

 I " Med. u. Chirurg. Centralblatt," 1875. 



