THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 83 



36 hours, while milk that is insufficiently cooled (that is to say 

 allowed to attain a temperature in excess of 45 to 50 F.) deteriorates 

 rapidly. Dr. Park states later that while 45 F. is a desirable stand- 

 ard, 50 F. is, in his judgment, much easier to observe and will answer 

 fairly well. He assigns the failure to keep milk below the tempera- 

 ture of 50 F. as the greatest reason for the deterioration of city milk. 



Dr. Coit asserts that, according to a well-known expert, a quart of 

 milk maintained at 60 F. in a refrigerator will grow 19,000,000 

 germs in 24 hours. 



The rapidity with which bacteria multiply at a temperature some- 

 what slightly above 50 F. has been well illustrated by a recognized 

 authority on the subject, who, in an experiment with milk containing 

 153,000 organisms per cubic centimeter when exposed to a tempera- 

 ture of 59 F., showed a proliferation to more than treble this number 

 in a single hour, the milk attaining the almost incredible figure of 

 85,000,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter at the end of 24 hours. When 

 it is realized that a cubic centimeter corresponds approximately to 

 one-fourth of a teaspoonful, the enormity of this increase in a given 

 sample of milk can easily be imagined. 



A series of systematic investigations has shown that the tempera- 

 ture, in order to retard generation of germ life, should be maintained 

 as low, at least, as 50 F. Pathogenic or disease-breeding organisms 

 are shown to multiply with remarkable rapidity when milk is main- 

 tained at temperatures ranging from 50 to 60 F., and even more 

 markedly when 65 F. is reached. Although the practical observance 

 of this requirement means the establishment of icehouses on dairy 

 farms for the storage of a sufficient supply to maintain this reduced 

 temperature from April 1 or earlier to November 1, or later in excep- 

 tional instances of mild weather, and the installation of refrigerator 

 cars or the jacketing of cans in an efficient manner to keep down the 

 temperature, which requirement, if insisted upon, must necessarily 

 add to the cost of cooling, transporting, and delivering the local milk 

 supply, your committee is nevertheless, after careful consideration, 

 convinced that the arrangement is necessary in the interest of the 

 public health and should be made effective by suitable legislation, 

 provided that, so far as transportation is concerned, it be determined, 

 upon examination of figures in detail, that refrigerator-car service is 

 an economic possibility. 



The requirement should, moreover, extend to the refrigeration of 

 the milk while on delivery wagons, so as to continue the reduced 

 temperature at a maximum of 50 F. until actual delivery at the 

 residence or place of occupation of the consumer. 



Dr. Park entertains the view that it is practicable to maintain a 

 temperature not exceeding 50 F. on delivery wagons, provided the 

 cans be protected from exposure to the air by boards or canvas and a 

 little ice be kept on the cans. 



The committee appends (Appendix AI) in this connection copy 

 of a letter addressed, under date of October 9, 1907, by Surg. Gen. 

 George M. Sternberg, United States Army, retired, to Dr. G. Lloyd 

 Magruder, of this city, giving testimony as to the practicability of 

 shipping milk in cans reenforced with a felt jacket for very consider- 

 able distances without attaining a maximum of 50 F. 



