No 4.] MILK SUPPLY AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 57 



The Chairmax. The subject is, "Milk supply and the 

 public health." It is open for discussion, and I hope you 

 will improve this o])portunity to ask questions of Professor 

 Sedgwick. 



Mr. Bliss. I would like to ask the professor two ques- 

 tions : The first is, Can the disease that we know as "garget " 

 be communicated from one cow to another by the hand of the 

 milker? The second question is. Can the impurities that 

 may get into the milk in the stable all be removed from the 

 milk by passing through a separator? I have always told 

 my boys and the hired man that they were to keep the dirt 

 out of the milk, then it would be pure and clean ; but if they 

 got dirt into the milk, it would be impossible to make the 

 milk pure. 



Professor Sedgwick. I am glad to answer these questions 

 as well as I can. The statement I made was that a State vet- 

 erinarian and pathologist had found a pus epidemic affecting 

 seventy cows, which was attributed to the passing of the germs 

 through the hands of the milker from cow to cow. It is the 

 only case I know of on record, and I only give it as their 

 opinion. It seems to me entirely natural that it should be 

 so. If a man milked a cow that was suffering from some 

 disease and did not wash his hands before going to the next 

 cow, he might get some of the germs on the mouth of the 

 duct, and infect that cow. That is the only case I happen to 

 be familiar with. 



In regard to the other question, the gentleman is perfectly 

 right. Some kinds of filth can be taken out by a separator, 

 and enough is taken out to make the separator slime, but it 

 is not all taken out. There are still left in the milk some- 

 times considerable numbers of bacteria, and of course any 

 dissolved material having the right specific gravity would not 

 necessarily be taken out. 



Mr. N. B. Douglass (of Sherborn). I believe the pro- 

 fessor is correct. I believe garget can be conveyed by the 

 milker. I had an experience in my herd that such was the 

 case. The first I knew, one of my milkers was having trouble 

 with his cows. The disease began with one cow and had 

 been conveyed by him to the other cows. I dispensed with 

 his services at once, and got rid of the disease. I would 



