MILK DANGERS AND REMEDIES 143 



altering its chemical composition to feed certain 

 microbes with, I had to patiently heat it for from one 

 to two hours on five successive days, watching the 

 while that the temperature remained between 58 

 and 65 centigrade. The milk was sterile, and 

 I kept it for months, but such a process, of course, 

 is impossible for domestic purposes. 



The addition of chemicals to milk is both un- 

 desirable and ineffectual; amongst such substances 

 boracic acid, borax, and salicylic acid are employed, 

 but whilst the two former have been found to 

 produce but little effect upon disease germs present 

 in milk, salicylic acid hinders curdling more than 

 other substances, and even if added in the small 

 proportion of twelve grains per quart is said to 

 impart a taste to the milk, and is, moreover, in- 

 capable of destroying typhoid bacilli if present. 



Authorities are, moreover, not agreed as to the 

 harmlessness of this ingredient, and in France 

 the employment of salicylic acid in the preserva- 

 tion of food is strenuously opposed by doctors, 

 who consider its habitual use injurious to health. 



A Departmental Committee of the Local 

 Government Board was appointed in this country 

 to inquire into the use of preservatives in foods. 

 In their report they state that from 42 up to 126 

 grains of boracic acid were detected in milk offered 

 for sale, and that on one occasion no less than 



