SOME BACTERIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF MILK 



INSPECTION.' 



BY CHARLES E. MARSHALL, PH.D. 



Milk inspection assumes in the beginning that something 

 may be wrong with milk. This seems patent when we reflect 

 that the cow may cause the trouble ; likewise the milker, the 

 man who handles the milk, the consumer, the feed, the many 

 utensils and manipulations through which milk passes, each 

 may be responsible. So many possibilities ; yet on the whole 

 comparatively little mischief is done when we consider the 

 very large amounts of milk used by the world at large. 



This view, however, does not satisfy in any degree, because 

 it is well known that human life is at stake. Were we to com- 

 pare loss of life from milk with railroad accidents, industrial 

 results, automobile carelessness and the many avenues through 

 which lives flicker out through neglect, indifference and other- 

 wise, encouragement ought to be forthcoming. This, how- 

 ever, is no excuse; it is the individual's task to serve man- 

 kind well and faithfully, whether some other feature of 

 crowded humanity is attended to or not. It does seem, 

 nevertheless, that milk is one of the willing horses for tired 

 and critical wayfarers to ride because it is so free to burdens, 

 for it is believed most of the troubles will yield to correction. 

 If the subject were flies, doubtless far more responsible or 

 guilty, there would be comparatively little to say, for nearly 

 every one is somewhat guilty and responsible, and the reme- 

 dies are not so carefully propagated. 



To the responsibility of the milk producer nearly every ill 

 associated with milk or in milk is traced. He is responsible 

 to himself as to whether he is an educated man, a clean man, 

 and a man trained in the efficiency of dairying. He is re- 



1 Lecture delivered before the Massachusetts Milk Inspectors' Association at Springfield. 

 Mass., Dec. 2, 191.3. 



