I2O MILK BACTERIA AND HEALTH. 



has been infected. The well water upon a farm where there 

 is a case of typhoid fever is always subject to suspicion. 

 The typhoid dejecta thrown upon the soil may drain into 

 the surface of an open well or percolate through the soil, 

 passing through the earth for many feet, and reach the well. 

 The natural drainage of the land is toward the well and 

 there is always, therefore, a chance of contamination 

 of the well water by typhoid bacillus in case of typhoid 

 fever upon the farm. Water from such a well is quite 

 likely to contaminate the milk vessels. The typhoid 

 bacilli, unlike the tuberculosis organism, can multiply 

 in milk, and a few bacteria thus finding entrance multiply 

 rapidly and eventually become a source of trouble. It 

 is, therefore, unsafe for any dairyman to use well water 

 or common brook water for washing or rinsing milk cans 

 unless he is absolutely confident of the purity of the source. 

 To avoid this danger it is only necessary to wash the milk 

 cans in water that has been boiled, for the boiling of the 

 water destroys the typhoid germs, and milk cans that are 

 washed in such .water only will never be contaminated with 

 the typhoid bacillus from the water. If the milkman will 

 use only boiled water for washing milk vessels, and will 

 isolate his dairy and his milk cans absolutely from all pos- 

 sible connection with typhoid patients, he will practically 

 avoid the danger of distributing typhoid fever to the com- 

 munity by means of milk. 



SCARLET FEVER. 



There have been a larger number of epidemics of scarlet 

 fever attributed to the milk supply than of diphtheria, the 

 last thirty years having brought to light about thirty such 

 epidemics where the evidence is tolerably conclusive. The 

 cause of this disease is yet unknown, although it is doubtless 

 a microorganism of some kind and is probably capable of 

 growing in milk. The lack of knowledge as to the cause of 



