THE STORY OF THE BACTERIA. ID? 



whatever kind, should be altogether avoided ; 

 and the same should apply to milk. The boil- 

 ing of milk for from three quarters of an hour 

 to an hour suffices to kill the germs of tuber- 

 culosis. 



Scarlet-fever and diphtheria may also, as 

 has been abundantly proven, be transmitted 

 by milk which has in any way been exposed 

 to the infection ; and hence the thorough 

 boiling of milk, in cities where the source of 

 the supply is not definitely known, would be a 

 wise precautionary measure. 



Milk is such an excellent food medium for 

 the greatest variety of bacteria of nearly all 

 species, that although bacteria-free when it 

 comes from the cow, it may, before it reaches 

 the consumer, contain several millions of liv- 

 ing germs to one teaspoonful. Now it has 

 been found that milk which contains a great 

 many bacteria, although these may not be of 

 a kind which ordinarily produce any well de- 

 fined disease, may in young children produce 

 digestive disturbances and diarrhoea, which is 

 often of a very serious character. Milk from 

 the ordinary unknown sources of supply ought 



