1909 



MILK COMMISSION. 



131 



siderable diversity of view on these points, the consensus of opinion takes the view 

 that the taste and nutritive quality are not altered to any serious extent. Naturally, 

 the higher the temperature, the more the milk is affected. There still remains.; to 

 be considered the effect of the dead bacteria; pasteurization only transforms milk 

 " from an aquarium to a cemetery.' 7 Eoseneau, of the Marine Hospital, Washing- 

 ton, who has done eminent original work on the question, found that dead bacteria 

 injected in guinea pigs proved fatal in a small percentage of cases, thus proving 

 that while not nearty as harmful as when alive, dead bacteria are not absolutely 

 innocuous. 



But in spite of of its disadvantages, there can be no doubt that pasteurized 

 milk is much safer as human food than raw, dirty milk. 



Up-to-date milk house 



MUNICIPALITIES MUST DECIDE. 



Looked at from the laboratory standpoint, pasteurization is a splendid modern 

 plan to overcome the modern complications' of transportation and delay which beset 

 the milk supply. It is a striking fact that its chief exponents, with the notable 

 exception of Mr. Nathan Straus, of New York, are laboratory men. Among 

 health officers charged with the practical work of protecting their citizens, it has 

 not yet attained the same popularity, doubtless owing to the difficulties surround- 

 ing the practical enforcement of such a process. Across the line, Chicago is the 

 only large city to adopt it as a compulsory system, and then only if cattle are not 

 tuberculin tested, and not as a safeguard against other milk-bgrne diseases. The 

 story of Chicago is set forth in another chapter, but it offers little assistance to 

 Ontario. In our enquiries in this Province, we found little sentiment in favour of 

 pasteurization, and also little information on the question. 



