72 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



however, has shown results highly destructive of pre- 

 conception. An investigation of the bacterial count 

 of the milk from 34 commercial dairies and their scores 

 as determined by three representative cards namely, 

 the Cornell card, the United States (" Official") card 

 referred to above, and the New York City card has 

 recently been published by the New York State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, the investigator being 

 James D. Brew. 5 The purpose of this study was to 

 determine how nearly different cards agreed when the 

 same conditions were scored simultaneously by the 

 same person and what relation existed between score 

 and bacteria count as an index of sanitary quality. 

 As might be expected, there was found some variation 

 in the relative positions of the various dairies when 

 scored simultaneously with all the cards. But the 

 striking conclusion derived was this: 



The results of the investigation show no correlation whatever 

 between the quality of the milk so far as it could be determined 

 by laboratory methods and the score as expressed by any one of 

 these three cards. 



This is so arresting a result that we must quote fur- 

 ther from the conclusions of the investigator: 



Milk of all grades ranging from the finest quality to the 

 poorest, is produced in barns which would be excluded on 

 account of low scores. All grades of milk are likewise pro- 

 duced in the high-scoring barns. 



The real explanation for this lack of relationship between 

 the scores and the bacteria counts cannot be given as yet 

 with absolute certainty. The most apparent reason, as 

 shown by investigations made at this Station, is that a 



