32 THE INLAND PASSAGE. 



but a duty they owed their fellow beings, and espe- 

 cially their customers, to make sure that they did 

 not incur the evils which were certain to arise from 

 the unguarded use of so deleterious a beverage. 

 They mixed the dangerous fluid with a sufficient 

 proportion of water to kill the germs of disease, 

 and lest their motives should be misunderstood, 

 they did not mention their thoughtfulness to the 

 consumers. Hence it was that Utica enjoyed unex- 

 ampled health, and it would no doubt have contin- 

 ued in tlje same enjoyment except for a change in 

 the methods of milk culture. Milk, instead of 

 being converted into butter or sold in its natural 

 state, came in time to be manufactured into cheese. 

 Great cheese dairies were established, to which the 

 farmers sent their milk, in place of disposing of it 

 by local trade. Now it was essential that the milk 

 so delivered should be absolutely pure, for the ex- 

 cellence of the product not only depended on this, 

 but also in order that the amount might be fairly 

 credited to each of the persons furnishing a share of 

 the supply. Then the bucolic view that had hereto- 

 fore obtained in that neighborhood was modified, 

 and of all the sins in the decalogue, none was quite 

 so henious as the adulteration of milk. I do not 

 vouch for this story, although a long course of lac- 

 tic experience in the city of New York gives it an 

 air of possibility. Certain it is that since the in- 

 troduction of cheese factories, the health of Utica 

 has declined, but then no one can positively say that 

 this change is due entirely to the purity of the milk. 



