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we know that even in the case of war a large majority of the per- 

 sons who go to the front return alive. Even though a horrible 

 ocean calamity, bringing hundreds to an untimely end, sends a 

 thrill of horror through the community, the steamers next sailing 

 are loaded with passengers, each one believing that the probabili- 

 ties of a similar accident happening to him are very slight. The 

 railroad accident, causing many deaths, does not decrease travel. 

 In other words, these various possibilities of injury or death cre- 

 ate no panic or scare in the community. But, on the other hand, 

 they are not viewed with stolid indifference. They lead to extra 

 precautions and increased safeguards. 



Though the railroad accident does not cause any decrease in 

 railroad traffic, though the public, with what appears to be almost 

 reckless carelessness, journeys the next day as if nothing had hap- 

 pened, the accident does not pass unheeded. Its causes are care- 

 fnlly studied, the danger of a similar occurrence is investigated, 

 and the expert mechanic in his workshop and study evolves an air 

 brake, an interlocking switch, an automatic signal or some other 

 safety appliance, and traffic is all the more safe as a result, but 

 without panic. The ocean horror sets investigators to thinking, 

 and some one devises new means of signalling, invents new proc- 

 esses for increasing safety in a fog, or suggests new paths for the 

 ocean traffic. The falling of an electric wire, causing the death 

 of a passer-by, or the crossing of an electric light wire with a 

 telephone wire, setting fire to valuable buildings, does not decrease 

 the use of electricity, and the dangers therefrom are not vocifer- 

 ously advertised, to alarm the public; but careful investigation 

 follows, then come days and nights of study and experiment, and 

 finally some expert electrician devises a method for insulating the 

 wires or for operating them satisfactorily under ground ; the dan- 

 ger disappears, while the comfort resulting from the use of these 

 modern conveniences increases. 



All this, it seems to me, teaches us a lesson as to the milk ques- 

 tion, — the dangers from germs, the way to face the danger, its 

 seriousness, and the course to be adopted. Within a few years 

 wonderful advances in bacteriology have been made, and facts 

 which ought not to be disputed, conservatively stated, are these : 

 It has been found that many kinds of disease are caused by micro- 

 scopic germs ; these germs have been actually seen with powerful 

 magnifying glasses, and identified so as to be as well known to the 

 microscopist as is any human being to his neighbors and friends ; 

 milk has many characteristics that make it a medium to which 

 germs can readily gain access, and by which they may be commu- 



