SOURCES OF INFECTION IN THE STABLE. 79 



milk drawn without care and to which soda was added 

 in order to hide its lack of cleanliness. This thought 

 arose in me through the strong power of resistance 

 which I have noticed in milk which was milked with 

 extra precautions in my presence. It was taken up by 

 one of my hearers Dr. Smester* who applied it in 

 Normandy. He is now sending milk to Paris which 

 has not been heated or received any chemical preserv- 

 atives, but which still keeps for a long time, even in hot 

 weather. It seems to me that we ought to improve in 

 this direction, at least when the question is of milk in- 

 tended for rapid consumption, and that we ought not to 

 try to multiply and further perfect the pasteurization 

 apparatus. It is true that an improvement of these will 

 bring about a perfect neatness on the farms and among the 

 farmers, and that an industrial tool is created sooner than 

 traditional habits are changed. But a change would soon 

 occur among the producers, if only the consumers demand 

 the same. When the latter really want clean milk they 

 will get it. As matters now stand it is always safest to 

 boil the milk before using, if the consumer is not fully 

 certain of the cleanliness and general health of the animals 

 producing it; but the question of the keeping quality of 

 the milk will nevertheless have taken a great step toward 

 its solution when it is correctly understood on farms and 

 in dairies what cleanliness really means." 



* Dr. Smester is continuing his experiments with a view of 

 applying them on a large scale. 



