WHY THERE IS A MILK PROBLEM 11 



with polluted water, the unsavory straining cloth, im- 

 perfectly cleansed pans, further handling in process of 

 bottling, bottles and other utensils of doubtful cleanli- 

 ness, these, together with lack of proper cooling and 

 frequently many hours of transportation, are some of 

 the details which demand the attention of the milk 

 sanitarian. If, as Sedgwick suggests, drinking water 

 were derived in the same manner and passed through 

 the same processes as milk drawn from the body of 

 an animal standing in a stable, by the hands of work- 

 men of questionable cleanness, and subsequently 

 handled as milk frequently is few would care to drink 

 it. "It is clear, " he adds, "that milk requires and 

 deserves even more careful treatment than water, for 

 it is more valuable, more trusted and more readily 

 falsified or decomposed," and also, as we shall note 

 presently the most important consideration of all 

 it is a readier agent of infection. 



The dairy cow herself [as Dr. Charles E. North says] con- 

 tributes a peculiar form of contamination. The udder is 

 constructed like a sponge. There is a constant shedding of 

 waste tissue from the lining of the udder. This udder waste 

 often includes the products of udder inflammation. Such 

 inflammations are so common they are present in some form 

 in practically every dairy herd. Even when there is no ex- 

 ternal evidence there is often internal inflammation dis- 

 charging its products with the milk. 4 



Now what is the sanitary significance of all this? 



In the first place, no one wishes to eat or drink dirt, 

 even that of the proverbial "peck of dirt." The various 

 kinds of ordinary dirt may or may not be directly in- 

 jurious to health. At the present time the tendency 



