THE MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES. 635 



would prefer to give it up entirely. This is really an almost insur- 

 mountable obstacle to the wide extension of the use of sterilized 

 milk, at least for the present generation. Those who have accus- 

 tomed themselves to the taste of raw milk will not drink sterilized 

 milk, and, if they do not dare to drink it raw, will not drink it at 

 all. If infants are brought up on sterilized milk the next genera- 

 tion may look upon the matter differently, since the taste can be 

 cultivated. 



The third objection to sterilized milk is its cost, which pretty 

 effectually prevents its wide use. Here is probably the real reason 

 why the sterilized-milk industry has not extended more rapidly 

 than it has. The cost of the milk that has been subjected to the 

 treatment above described is considerably above that of ordinary 

 milk, and the size of the pocketbook is commonly a matter out- 

 weighing, with most people, even matters of health. When raw 

 milk can be purchased at half the price of sterilized milk, or even 

 for a cent or two less, it will be purchased almost uniformly by the 

 bulk of people, rather than the more expensive sterilized milk. 

 Thus it happens that, in spite of the fact that sterilized milk can be 

 purchased easily in most European cities, the business is not a large 

 one. Probably not one quart of sterilized milk is sold to a hundred 

 quarts of raw milk, even in cities where the business is best de- 

 veloped. 



There are some who think that this method of treating milk is 

 soon to be recognized as a necessity, and that it will be shortly re- 

 garded as improper to drink raw milk as it is to eat raw pork. But 

 the business has grown rather slowly. Most people prefer to pur- 

 chase their milk raw at a cheaper price and then boil it themselves, 

 if they do not forget it. There is, moreover, one rather serious 

 criticism that is made against this sterilized milk. Even with the 

 high temperature that is used, it is impossible to be sure that all bac- 

 teria spores are destroyed. In most cases they are killed, but occa- 

 sionally, and indeed not infrequently, a lot of milk will contain re- 

 sisting spores that the heat does not destroy. These few spores that 

 are left may become serious, far more so than the bacteria in raw 

 milk. After sterilization they begin to grow, and, since this milk 

 is very commonly kept for many days before it is used, these germs 

 have a chance to become very abundant in the milk and to produce 

 profound chemical changes therein, in some cases actually develop- 

 ing poisons. The changes that thus occur may be such as to escape 

 notice with the eye, since they do not curdle the milk, and they 

 may even fail to affect the taste of the milk. Such milk is to all 

 appearances good, and would be given to infants without hesita- 

 tion. If it did contain the injurious products thus referred to the 



