434 



SANITATION 



cannot inspect the supply directly, we should ask the 

 health authorities to make frequent examinations of the 

 milk, so that we may be reasonably sure that it is safe. 



Milk ' ' spoils " most rapidly, of course, in warm weather, 

 just when babies suffer most from the heat. If to their 

 weakened bodies we add germ-laden milk, the results are 

 sure to be serious. The number of deaths of young 

 children, in summer, is very great, and many of them can 

 be prevented. Germs cannot develop so rapidly in cold 



milk as in warm milk, 

 hence there should be a 

 refrigerator, of some sort, 

 in every family where 

 there are children (Fig. 

 305). Many cities fur- 

 nish free ice, or inexpen- 

 sive ice, to the very poor, 

 as this " saves the babies." 



Fig. 308. 



The Wrong and the Right Kind of Nursing 

 Bottles. 



In most cases children can 

 digest pasteurized milk (so 

 called from the celebrated 

 French scientist, Pasteur) . 



The process of pasteurizing is simple and inexpensive, the apparatus 

 consisting only of a covered pail, with a hole in the cover for a 

 thermometer. The bottle containing milk is placed in the pail, 

 the pail is filled with water almost to the mouth of the bottle, 

 the cover and thermometer are put in place, and the pail is heated. 

 A temperature of 68.3 C. (155 F.) maintained for half an hour, 

 or of 77C. (170 F.) for 5 minutes, kills the disease germs of the 

 milk. The milk is then cooled rapidly, and stored in a refriger- 

 ator. The bottles used for the feeding of babies often spoil other- 

 wise good milk (Fig. 306). Those with a long, slender rubber tube 



