SCIENTIFIC WORK OF HARRY LUMAN RUSSELL 15 



the State Hygienic Laboratory was created by the legislature. 

 Dean Russell was made director, a position he held until 1908. 



Another field in which pioneer work was done was in the 

 pasteurization of milk and cream for direct consumption. 

 Bulletin 44 of the Experiment Station was issued in 1895. 

 Th3 method suggested therein conforms with one exception 

 to that which is accepted by the health officials as the best 

 today. The milk was treated in an apparatus that insured 

 the heating of all of the milk to the desired temperature and 

 for the desired time. This is nothing more or less than the 

 "holding" method of pasteurization so widely used today. 

 The temperature recommended was 155 F. for 20 minutes. 

 At this time the tubercle bacillus was considered to be much 

 more resistant to heat than was later found to be the case. 



For many years pasteurization of milk for direct consump- 

 tion did not meet with the approval of health officials. They 

 considered it in the class with preservatives. The process 

 was gradually introduced into the milk trade by the dis- 

 tributors whose interest lay in imparting to their product a 

 better keeping quality. They adopted the machines that had 

 been found satisfactory in the pasteurization of cream for 

 butter making. These machines subjected the milk to a high 

 temperature for a short period, the "flash" method of pasteur- 

 ization. This process did not insure the freedom of the milk 

 from pathogenic organisms since a portion was subjected to 

 the maximum temperature for such a short period that the 

 organisms therein might not be destroyed. The recognition 

 of this fact by health officials did not lead them to favor 

 pasteurization of milk for direct consumption. Indeed, for 

 many years, the whole weight of influence of the medical pro- 

 fession was against the pasteurization of milk. They failed 

 to recognize the trend of affairs in the provisioning of our 

 cities with milk, that it was becoming increasingly difficult to 

 obtain a sufficient supply of milk close to the point of con- 

 sumption, that as supplies must be sought farther away, the 

 period between the moment of production and of consumption 

 lengthened. It became increasingly difficult to retard the 

 process of souring of the milk by the methods then used 



