172 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



a statute inimical to the public weal, and its pro- 

 hibition was binding upon the state. The legis- 

 lature which passed it, the leader who engineered 

 it and the governor who failed to veto it, are con- 

 jointly entitled to the discredit of the enactment. 



Since such requirements as the making of the 

 tuberculin test depend for their trustworthiness 

 upon the careful technique of the operation, 

 to remove as much as possible the danger of un- 

 professional carelessness or dishonesty of unreg- 

 ulated practitioners, such ordinances or statutes 

 should require that the test be made only by offi- 

 cial veterinarians. 



Since milk infections are generally bacterial, 

 condemnations of milk are frequently made, and 

 sustained in court, because of the large number 

 of bacteria contained, though none may be proven 

 dangerous to health. The presence of such ab- 

 normally large numbers indicates a lack of care 

 in the handling of the product. To guard against 

 infection, and to assist in tracing responsibility, 

 various regulations have been sustained, such as, 

 requiring users to wash the milk bottles, prohibit- 

 ing the use of milk containers for other purposes, 

 or the having in possession by milkmen of bottles 

 which had not been washed.^^ The Massachusetts 

 court refused sanction to an ordinance which pro- 

 hibited the sale of ''open" milk,2i ^^^^ ^j^g neces- 

 sity for such prohibition is now so generally 

 recognized that it would probably be sustained. 

 The city of Covington prohibited the sale of less 



20 People V. Frudenberg, 140 21 Commonwealth v. Drew, 



N. Y. Supp. 17; Polinsky v. 208 Mass. 493. 

 People, 73 N. Y. 65. 



