44 KEPORT OF THE No. 55 



vision of an official known as the Commissioner of Public Safety. Dr. D. M. Tot- 

 man is the Medical Health Officer, and Dr. Thos. F. Foreman, Deputy Health Offi- 

 cer, and to these gentlemen, headed by their Chief, S. T. Friedrich, Deputy Com- 

 missioner of Public Safety, your Commission desires to express their indebtedness 

 for many courtesies and much kindness. 



But this equipment, at least in its present completeness, is of recent origin 

 and incidentally for that reason evidences the growing interest and importance 

 being attached to the question of the milk supply. The present system was in- 

 augurated only about two years ago and its efficiency was soon tested by the tracing 

 of a couple of epidemics of disease directly to the milk supply. A ledger is kept 

 to record the number of contagious diseases on the route of each peddler. This is 

 called the "tell-tale ledger/' and in September, 1907, the tale it told was that 

 eight cases of typhoid fever had broken out on the route of a certain milk producer, 

 and upon investigation it was found that two cases of typhoid fever existed in the 

 family of the producer. The milk supply was immediately prohibited from en- 

 tering the city and the epidemic was checked. A few months later an epidemic 

 of diphtheria broke out and it was also described as being "milk borne" and proved 

 to be more than usually virulent. Altogether nearly forty cases got headway 

 before the disease was stopped. They were found to be on three milk routes, the 

 majority being on the route of a man in whose home there had been two cases of 

 diphtheria during the summer and fall, and the balance on the routes of two 

 men who got their supply from the first mentioned producer. Thus the entire 

 outbreak was traced to the same source. 



EDUCATION AND CO-OPERATION. 



When Syracuse started out to deal with the milk problem in a systematic 

 way, they first had a set of ordinances to be known as health ordinances, adopted 

 by the City Council, but the underlying keynote of their system has been co- 

 operation and education on the part of those responsible. It was after some 

 agitation that these ordinances were adopted by the council. They embodied 

 many of the regulations in force in other cities and some others. They first of 

 all set forth clearly that no milk should be sold : 



(1) Containing more than 88 per cent, of water or fluids; 



(2) Containing less than 12 per cent, of milk solids; 



(3) Containing less than 3 per cent, of fats; 



(4) From which any part of the cream had been removed; 



(5) Having lactometer reading less than 29; 



(6) Containing any boric acid or salicylic acid, formaldehyde or other foreign 

 chemicals. 



(7) Containing bacteria of any kind more than five hundred thousand 

 (500,000) per cubic centimetre; 



(8) Drawn from any cow having a contagious or communicable disease; 



(9) Drawn from any cow within fifteen days before or five days after par- 

 turition ; 



(10) Having a temperature over 60 degrees or which has been stored at a 

 temperature higher than 50 degrees F. 



Then in addition to providing for the sterilization of the bottles, the regu- 

 lations went one step farther. They provided that no milk or cream should be 



