114 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



pointed by the laboratory section of the American Public Health 

 Association in 1905 to study the various methods used for the bac- 

 teriological examination of milk and to recommend a uniform pro- 

 cedure. In 1907 the committee presented a preliminary statement, 

 treating the subject matter in considerable detail. In 1908 a report 

 of progress was submitted to the annual meeting of the laboratory 

 section covering some points on which no recommendations were made 

 in the preliminary statement. These two preliminary reports have 

 been favorably received and the technique recommended has been 

 adopted. The final report presented in 1910 was practically but a 

 restatement of methods theretofore tentatively recommended. The 

 latest report is comprehensive in character, embracing recommenda- 

 tions on every feature connected with the bacteriological examination 

 of milk, including carefully prepared directions concerning the col- 

 lecting of samples, the quantity of milk required for analysis, collect- 

 ing apparatus, means of identifying samples, temperature, media, 

 plating, incubation and counting, milk sediments, tests for special 

 bacteria, gas production, and interpretation of results. 



The report explains fully a feature which is most mystifying to 

 the layman, namely, the method of diluting the samples and esti- 

 mating with reasonable accuracy the millions of bacteria often in- 

 cluded in a single cubic centimeter of milk. Our curiosity is inten- 

 sified when we are told that a cubic centimeter represents in volume 

 about 16 drops, or one- fourth of a teaspoonful. The report suggests 

 a uniform, systematic manner of stating the results of bacteriological 

 counts, below 50,000 being distinguished by five-thousandths, be- 

 tween 50,000 and 100,000 by ten-thousandths, between- 100,000 and 

 500,000 by fifty-thousandths, between 500,000 and 5,000,000 by hun- 

 dred-thousandths, and above 5,000,000 by millions. The actual count 

 under the microscope is facilitated by ruling off a square millimeter 

 of the counting chamber into 400 smaller equal squares. 



COMPULSORY PASTEURIZATION WOULD NOT DISPENSE WITH NECESSITY 

 FOR PRESCRIBED BACTERIAL COUNT. 



There is most substantial accord among the authorities consulted by 

 the committee with the proposal that compulsory pasteurization 

 should not be permitted to do away with the requirement of a pre- 

 scribed bacterial content, which latter, in the judgment of those hav- 

 ing knowledge of the subject, is an indispensable accompaniment to 

 regulations compelling pasteurization. The bacterial count is an ab- 

 solute index not only 01 the efficiency of pasteurization, but likewise 

 of the conditions under which the milk has been kept after pasteur- 

 ization. The Surgeon General of the Army observes that the neces- 

 sity for a prescribed bacterial content is not thus obviated for the 

 reason that pasteurization does not make dirty milk clean and does 

 not destroy the toxins which may develop in old milk. Dr. Melvin 

 aptly observes that the bacterial count is an important aid in bring- 

 ing about sanitary conditions on dairy farms, and should not be 

 abandoned even though compulsory pasteurization be adopted. Free- 

 man remarks that compulsory pasteurization adds to the necessity 

 for a prescribed bacterial content, for the reason that commercially 

 pasteurized milk is usually recoiitaminated to a greater or less extent 

 before it is disposed of. Dr. Winslow adduces that the advisability 



