CREAM. 259 



DIRECTIONS FOR THE STERILIZATION OF MILK. 



(U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.) 



The sterilization of milk for children, now quite exten- 

 sively practised in order to destroy the injurious germs 

 which it may contain, can be satisfactorily accomplished 

 with very simple apparatus. The vessel containing the 

 milk, which may be the bottle from which it is to be used 

 or any other suitable vessel, is placed inside of a larger 

 vessel of metal, which contains the water. If a bottle, it is 

 plugged with absorbent cotton, if this is at hand, or in its 

 absence, other clean cotton will answer. A small fruit-jar 

 loosely covered may be used instead of a bottle. The re- 

 quirements are simply that the interior vessel shall be raised 

 about half an inch above the bottom of the other, and that 

 the water shall reach nearly or quite as high as the milk. 

 The apparatus is then heated on a range or stove until the 

 water reaches a temperature of 155 degrees Fahrenheit, 

 when it is removed from the heat and kept tightly covered 

 for half an hour. The milk-bottles are then taken out and 

 kept in a cool place. The milk may be used any time within 

 twenty-four hours. A temperature of 150 degrees main- 

 tained for half an hour is sufficient to destroy any germs 

 likely to be present in the milk, and it is found in practice 

 that raising the temperature to 155 degrees and then allow- 

 ing it to stand in the heated water for half an hour insures 

 the proper temperature for the required time. The tempera- 

 ture should not be raised above 155 degrees, otherwise the 

 taste and quality of the milk will be impaired. 



The simplest plan is to take a tin pail and invert a per- 

 forated tin pie-plate in the bottom, or have made for it a 

 removable false bottom perforated with holes and having 

 legs half an inch high to allow circulation of the water. 

 The milk-bottle is set on this false bottom, and sufficient 

 water is put into the pail to reach the level of the surface 

 of the milk in the bottle. A hole may be punched in the 

 cover of the pail, a cork inserted, and a chemical thermom . 

 eter put through the cork, so that the bulb dips into the 

 water. The temperature can thus be watched without re- 



