188 CONFERENCE ON MILK PROBLEMS 



cle bacilli in sputum are exposed to conditions which he con- 

 siders almost certainly sterilize them before the sputum can 

 be pulverized and float in the air. What ever chances adults 

 may be disposed to take as regards exposure to tubercle bacilli 

 in milk and dairy products, we must, he pleads, consider our 

 obligations to the children in the matter of pure milk, and he 

 also is obviously in favor of pasteurization. 



This report is of peculiar interest in that it shows how strong 

 is the feeling in scientific circles in America as to the danger of 

 contracting tuberculosis from milk. Notwithstanding the late 

 Professor Koch's arguments at the Washington Congress in 

 1908, it is clear that the American pathologists at the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry are satisfied as to the danger to be antic- 

 ipated from milk, and have decided that pasteurization is one 

 of the best means of mitigating such dangers, at any rate until 

 greater advances have been made in the direction of securing 

 a pure milk-supply. 



Notwithstanding these accumulated facts have received the 

 highest endorsements, there is still manifested great indiffer- 

 ence and negligence by many physicians, hospital directors, 

 national, state and municipal associations and authorities, as 

 to the gravity of the dangers lurking in contaminated dairy 

 products. 



The indifference of hospital directors as to the milk supplies 

 has been shown to exist in many cities. Very high bacterial 

 counts have been observed. The following were found in milk 

 furnished to Washington hospitals: ,000,000 bacteria per 

 cm. ; 2,800,000 ; 8,500,000; 4,000,000; 5,000,000; 10,000,000; 

 10,000,000; 15,000,000; 50,000,000; 111,000,000. (See Bul- 

 letin 4fl, Bureau of Public Health and Marine Hospital Serv- 

 ice, page 461, et seq.) 



These counts were called to the attention of the hospitals 

 early last spring. Yet in May last, but three institutions were 

 using milk with less than 00,000 bacteria. In the other insti- 

 tutions the counts ranged from this number to 34,100,000. At 

 one hospital it is reported that two members of the staff for- 

 bade the use of any but raw milk. The last counts showed 

 that two samples of the milk delivered there contained 3,400,- 

 000 and ,700,000 bacteria. The difference in price of a frac- 

 tion of a cent to two cents, stands between these supplies and 



