212 AGRICULTURAL BACTERIOLOGY. 



The special reason for danger from this bacillus is the fact 

 that it finds in milk such a favorable medium for growth that, 

 although the milk may have been at first contaminated with 

 only a very few bacteria, these multiply so fast that in a few 

 hours they are very abundant. Hence it follows that an ex- 

 tremely slight original contamination may become a very 

 serious matter, and the few bacteria which originally got into 

 the milk by multiplying may, under favorable conditions, dis- 

 tribute the disease along a whole milk route. This is quite 

 different from the tuberculosis disease, where the bacilli do not 

 multiply in the milk and where only those originally finding 

 their way into the milk from the cow are to be feared. 



The danger of distribution of typhoid fever by milk is 

 not simply theoretical but is, unfortunately, only too real. 

 The number of instances where there is abundant proof of 

 such distribution is already very large and each year adds to 

 the list. Indeed, most of the violent epidemics of this disease, 

 which have been successfully traced to their source, are found 

 to have originated in the milk supply. To-day two chief 

 sources of typhoid fever are recognized, viz., the water supply 

 and the milk supply. The water doubtless produces the larger 

 number of cases, but it is rarely the cause of the sudden, 

 severe epidemics which sometimes strike a community, pro- 

 ducing many cases within a short time of each other, and soon 

 passing away, leaving traces behind in the form of many 

 deaths. Such sudden epidemics are commonly traceable to 

 the milk supply. For these inflictions the farmer is commonly 

 at fault. Through ignorance, perhaps, he has put his milk 

 under conditions which cause it to become contaminated with 

 the bacilli and disastrous results follow. Wholly unwittingly 

 has he done this, for no one would willingly originate such 

 epidemics. 



For these reasons it is impossible for the farmer to be too 

 careful in guarding his milk from a possible contamination 



