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in that way reach homes where the more scientific 

 periodical may never have been heard of : ' It is a some- 

 what curious fact that the inhabitants of the United 

 Kingdom stand almost alone amongst civilised nations in 

 the habitual use of uncooked milk as food. This is the 

 more to be regretted because, by reason of this practice, 

 human life, especially that of infancy and childhood, is 

 being sacrificed on a scale which, to use the mildest term, 

 is altogether deplorable. That this should be so is also 

 altogether unreasonable in the face of the certain know- 

 ledge we possess, and which is set forth in the report of 

 the Royal Commission of 1890 in the following words : 

 " The most deadly tubercular material can be rendered 

 absolutely innocuous, in so far as any spreading of 

 infective disease is concerned, by the action of a tempera- 

 ture at which water boils." And again : " It is sufficient 

 to state that boiling, for an instant even, renders the 

 tubercle bacillus absolutely innocuous." Milk exposed 

 to a temperature of 100 C., whether by boiling or other 

 form of cooking, will not convey tuberculosis ; and milk 

 sterilised, as by placing it over the fire in one saucepan, 

 which stands in an outer one filled with water, until it 

 has reached a temperature of some 80 C. to 90 C., i.e. 

 176 F., or perhaps even less, is an equally innocuous 

 food. And yet, whilst we have this knowledge at our 

 disposal, and whilst we know still further that some 

 7,000 persons, mostly infants, are annually killed in 

 England and Wales by that form of tuberculosis called 

 " labis mesenterica," besides some thousands more by 

 tubercular meningitis a cause of tuberculous death 

 which is on the increase under three months of age, is 

 undergoing no diminution at the next three months of life, 

 and which exhibits substantial increase during young 

 adult life and yet we find people apparently intelligent, 

 including even heads of young families, who discard the 



