CHAPTER XXI. 

 MILK AND DISEASE. 



I. A GREAT many of the epidemic diseases to which 

 mankind is subject have been spread by means of water 

 and milk. Fortunately, during the last century vast 

 improvements have taken place in the selection and 

 management of the public water supply : purer sources 

 have been tapped, and better regulations framed and 

 carried out in regard to the storage and distribution of 

 water for domestic purposes ; the disposal of sewage has 

 been supervised, and contamination of drinking water by 

 disease germs has been very greatly reduced. 



A different picture is presented to view when the 

 question of the relationship of the milk-supply to disease 

 is examined,' and much remains to be done, both by the 

 farmer and the general public, before the standard of 

 purity and safety is as high for milk as for water. 



Milk is one of the most important of all foods, especi- 

 ally for the young, and, unlike most of the materials 

 consumed, is very largely taken into the system in a raw, 

 uncooked, and unsterilized state. 



Moreover, it is a liquid which is eminently adapted for 

 the nutrition of many kinds of bacteria, and disease pro- 

 ducing organisms which gain access to it, grow and 

 multiply in it at an enormous rate. Such infected 

 milk has not infrequently spread illness and death over 



a wide area in a short time. 



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