196 MILK HYGIENE 



tices in regard to bottling milk. They pour milk into 

 bottles from cans in their wagons or hand carts on the 

 street, exposing it to dirt, and, worst of all, they some- 

 times fill bottles that have not been cleaned, or that have 

 not been properly cleansed. Milkmen have been known 

 to take a soiled bottle from the house of a customer, fill 

 it with milk on a dirty wagon, while the wind is blowing 

 dust about, close it with a disc taken from a coat pocket, 

 perhaps from alongside a handkerchief, and then deliver 

 it in the next house. It is not surprising that it has been 

 seriously proposed to prohibit the use of milk bottles. 

 But the bottling of milk marks a distinct sanitary ad- 

 vance, where it is carried out in a proper manner. It 

 should be provided by public regulation that milk shall be 

 delivered in bottles only under the following conditions : 



1. Before they are filled, bottles shall be washed and 

 sterilized, or they shall be cleansed by the use of some 

 method that has the approval of the sanitary authorities. 



2. Stoppers for the bottles shall be clean (preferably 

 sterilized) and shall be kept only in sterile packages or 

 in a clean metal or glass receptacle provided exclusively 

 for this use. 



3. Bottles shall be filled with milk only in a clean 

 room provided for this purpose, and they shall not be 

 removed from this room until they are stoppered. L. P.] 



III. PUBLIC SUPERVISION TO PREVENT ADULTERATION 



Just as many foods can be adulterated, so also can 

 milk and cream. As the fat is the most valuable ingredi- 

 ent of milk, a common adulteration consists in partial 

 skimming, or in the addition of skimmed milk or water ; 

 less frequently, foreign material is added to the milk in 

 order to give it a better appearance. It can be only 

 excessively rarely that gross adulterations occur, such 

 as the one reported by Sullivan, wherein a sample of 



