THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 165 



Standards of cleanliness of milk should be established, foreign substances 

 should be prohibited, viz, filth, bacteria in excessive numbers, and proper tem- 

 perature standards should be provided. (Health officer Providence, R. I.) 



No other tests possible that I know of. Competent inspection and insistence 

 of rules and immediate study of all reported cases of these diseases (with 

 reference to milk included) accomplish a great deal. (Health officer Rich- 

 mond, Va.) 



None at present known. (Health officer Rochester, N. Y.) 



At this stage of bacteriological science efficiency and rapidity, examination 

 of the home where milk is produced and of those handling is the best method. 

 In five years there will be no excuse for the existence of diphtheria and a bad 

 excuse for the existence of scarlet fever. Both have been practically banished 

 from this city. Typhoid fever is at very low ebb also. (Health officer Seattle, 

 Wash. ) 



Careful, competent investigation of all cases. (Health officer Syracuse, 

 N. Y.) 



Only such tests as a carefully organized inspection of dairies supplemented 

 by good laboratory work should give. (Health officer Topeka, Kans.) 



Not to my knowledge. (Sharon Dairy, Washington, D. C.) 



As cattle do not suffer from typhoid, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, a more 

 positive safeguard would be in all cases where th^re was reason to suspect 

 that any of these diseases existed at a dairy whose product was regularly put 

 on the market to make a reaction test from blood of the person suspected as 

 having one of these diseases, either of typhoid or diphtheria, and who was con- 

 nected with the dairy, by use of Widal's serum test for typhoid and the isola- 

 tion of Klebs-Lreffler bacillus for diphtheria. As to scarlet fever, it would 

 have to be detected on presentation of clinical symptoms of the disease in the 

 individual. These additional safeguards are sometimes resorted to as a pro- 

 tection against the transmission of human diseases through milk. (Borden's 

 Condensed Milk Co., New York, N. Y.) 



I know of no tests for the different germs of disease that it would be prac- 

 tical to make. (Walker-Gordon Laboratory, Washington, D. C.) 



No. (Dr. V. C.- Vaughan, Ann Arbor, Mich.) 



It is my belief that by suitable educational campaign the producers can be 

 brought to feel their responsibility in part at least, so that they will report 

 cases as above. Examination of the milk for intestinal organisms will mate- 

 rially assist in this work. I know of no applicable method to cover all the 

 question as asked. (Dr. S. C. Prescott, Boston, Mass.) 



No. (Health officer Los Angeles, Cal.) 



Proper pasteurization is the only practical test. (J. M. Houston, White 

 Cross Milk Co., Washington, D. C.) 



Only where suspected contamination. Then typhoid or diphtheria may be 

 found. With typhoid in milk, very difficult. (Health officer San Francisco, 

 Cal.) 



I know of no test that would prove beneficial except a thorough system of 

 milk inspection. (Dr. C. J. Marshall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 

 phia, Pa.) 



Bacteriological analysis. (Health officer Scranton, Pa.) 



EXTRACT FROM ANSWERS OF BORDEN'S CONDENSED MILK CO. 



The following conclusions are taken from the testimony of Dr. Theobald 

 Smith, of the medical department of Harvard University, the man who first 

 discovered that the bovine bacillus was different from the human bacillus, given 

 in a case involving the propriety of the tuberculin test : 



As a result of my special study, I would like to formulate the following con- 

 clusions as representing not only my own views, but those of a great body of 

 scientific men on the question of the relation of milk to tuberculosis : 



1. Bovine tuberculosis is not transmissible to man in the sense of being more 

 than a relatively rare source of tuberculosis. 



2. The .bacillus of bovine tuberculosis has not yet been demonstrated to be 

 the cause of pulmonary tuberculosis, true phthisis, or consumption. 



3. A cow reacting toward tuberculin, but which shows clinically no signs of 

 disease, and whose udder is unimpaired, is not to be regarded as a source of 

 infection to man. 



4. By a clinically sound cow I mean one free from swellings of bones, joints, 

 lymph nodes, or other soft parts ; from indurations of portions of the udder and 



