No. 4.] MILK SUPPLY AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 51 



2. Staleness, — usually discoverable. 



3. Infection, — occasionally indicated. 



Filth in Milk. — This has often been observed and com- 

 mented on. A dark deposit in a glass of milk is not rare in 

 the city; the so-called "cowy" taste, which often plainly 

 signifies dung ; the evidence of the unsavory-looking and more 

 unsavory-smelling separator * ' slime ; " the testimony of the 

 microscope, showing hair, dandruff, hay, dust, etc. ; and the 

 appearance of the material held back on the coarser strainer 

 on the farm, — all testify to the now too well-known fact that 

 milk is often filthy. The analyses of Renk and others have 

 simply shown surprising amounts of such filth. 



This filth does not belong in the milk. Healthy cows give 

 milk — not filth — from their teats. It comes simply from 

 filthy handling ; from the dust of the stable ; from the hide, 

 bag, tail and too-often " caked" flank of the cow ; from the 

 milker's hands, or clothing, or hat ; from unclean pails, or 

 strainers, or cans. It can be avoided, and must be, if milk 

 is to be above suspicion. Cows should receive better care, 

 should be groomed and cleaned as carefully as, or more than, 

 horses. The hands of the milker should be washed before 

 he milks, and the cow's bag should also be carefully cleaned 

 before milking begins. All cans, pails, strainers, etc., should 

 be thoroughly scalded and sterilized before they are used to 

 receive milk. For this filth the producer is mainly respon- 

 sible, and to him we must look for reform in this matter. 

 The middleman, however, who "tastes "the milk as it arrives 

 in the city, " mixes," " sets up " or otherwise manipulates the 

 milk, and finally returns the large cans dirty to the producer, 

 is also in part responsible. His cans also are often very 

 dirty, usually imperfectly cleaned and seldom if ever sterilized. 

 Staleness of Milk. — If milk could be drawn absolutely free 

 from filth it would "keep" a long time; but as this is at 

 present impossible, it must be transported to its destination as 

 soon as possible. Staleness, with decomposition, arises from 

 slow delivery of milk originally seeded with bacteria. Here 

 we must look to the middlemen to do their part in securing 

 quicker delivery and in returning to the producer sterilized 

 cans. The present practice of returning to the farmer un- 

 clean and often filthy cans is highly objectionable, and the 



