BACTERIOLOGY OF MILK IN ITS RELATION TO DISEASE 465 



TABLE IV. Number of Bacteria in 1 c.c. of Milk. 

 At time of milking. After 24 hrs. Aft^er 48 hrs. 



12,000 14,000 57,000 



13,000 20,000 65,000 



21,500 31,000 106,000 



Average 15,500 21,666 76,000 



y umber in City Milk. 



3. The condition of the average city milk is very different, and is shown in the 

 following tables. 



The twenty samples were taken late in March by Inspectors of the Department of 

 Health of New York City from cans of milk immediately upon their arrival in the city. 

 The temperature of the atmosphere averaged 50 F. during the previous twenty-four 

 hours. The temperature of the milk when taken from the cans averaged 45 F. Much 

 of this milk had been carried over two hundred miles. From the time of its removal 

 from the cans, which was about 2 A.M., until its dilution in nutrient agar, at 10 A.M., 

 the milk was kept at about 45 F. 



TABLE V. 

 From New York and Hudson River Railroad. From Harlem Railroad. 



No. of bacteria No. of bacteria 



No. of sample. in 1 c.c. No. of sample. in 1 c.c. 



50 ... 35,200,000 48 ... 6,200,000 



51 ... 13,000,000 49 ... 2,200,000 



52 ... 2,500,000 50 ... 15,000,000 



53 ... 1,400,000 51 ... 70,000 



54 ... 200,000 52 ... 80,000 



55 ... 600,000 53 ... 320,000 



While the above figures indicate that much of the milk sold is fair, 

 even in summer, they show an appalling condition for most of that sold 

 to the poorer classes those who not only comprise the larger part of 

 the population, but who are also compelled to keep their children in 

 town cluring the hot weather. 



It must be kept in mind that milk averaging 3,000,000 bacteria per 

 cubic centimetre will, when kept at the temperature common in the 

 homes of the poor, soon contain very largely increased numbers and 

 show its dangerous condition by turning sour and curdling. 



Cleanliness Used in Obtaining Milk, and its Influence. The present 

 conditions under which much of the milk is obtained are not pleasant 

 to consider. In winter, and to a less extent at other seasons of the year, 

 the cows in many stables stand or lie down in stalls in the rear portion 

 of which there is from one to four inches of manure and urine. When 

 milked the hands of the milkers are not cleansed, nor are the under 

 portions of the cows, only visible masses of manure adhering to the 

 hair about the udder being removed. Some milkers even moisten 

 their hands with milk, to lessen friction, and thus wash off the dirt of 

 their hands and of the cow's teats into the milk in the pails. Some 

 may regard it as an unnecessary refinement to ask that farmers should 

 roughly clean the floors of their stalls once each day, that no sweeping 

 should be done just before milking, and that the udders should be 



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