GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 13 



Sedgwick draws the contrast between milk and water as 

 follows : 



It should never be forgotten that if water were to be 

 drawn, as milk is, from the body of a cow standing in a 

 stable, by the hand of workmen of questionable cleanli- 

 ness, and then stored and transported over long distances 

 in imperfectly cleaned, closed cans, being further manipu- 

 lated more or less, and finally left at the doors at an uncer- 

 tain hour of the day, few would care to drink it, because its 

 pollution and staleness would be obvious. It is clear, more- 

 over, that it [milk] requires and deserves more careful 

 treatment than water, for it is more valuable, more trusted, 

 and more readily falsified or decomposed. 1 



Education 



Ignorance and apathy are obstacles in the way of im- 

 proving the milk supply and diminishing the dangers. Still 

 further to confuse an already complicated situation we have 

 the fact that the milk question is an unusually difficult and 

 perplexing one. To fathom all its phases requires a compe- 

 tent knowledge of bacteriology, chemistry, pathology, eco- 

 nomics, sociology, animal husbandry, vital statistics, the 

 veterinary and medical sciences, as well as a number of 

 kindred subjects. Education, therefore, is one of the prin- 

 cipal spokes in the wheel of the milk wagon. A little know- 

 ledge may be doubly dangerous in the milk question and it 

 is responsible for many ill-considered laws, drastic regu- 

 lations, and impractical requirements that are asked of 

 the farmer, the common carrier, the dairyman, the con- 

 tractor, and the health authorities. It is easy enough to 

 demand an ideal, but it is often difficult to obtain and 

 establish improvements that lead towards the ideal. It is so 

 with the milk situation. By education we do not simply 

 mean superficial information. It includes^ deeper insight 



1 Sedgwick, Principles of Sanitary Science and the PuUie Health. 

 New York and London, 1902, p. 279. 



