158 MILK HYGIENE 



supplied with milk not only from the island upon which 

 it is situated but also from the surrounding islands. 

 This facility of transportation by railroad and boat has 

 led to the establishment of milk depots that receive the 

 milk from the farms, handle it appropriately and deliver 

 it to their customers, selling it either from established 

 sales places, or from wagons. 



This evolution in the handling of milk, which has 

 occurred in most of the large cities of other countries as 

 well, marks an important advance in hygienic methods. 

 The milch herds in the cities and the retail shops con- 

 nected with them were very often the source of grave 

 epidemics ; the uncontrolled sale of milk by small farm- 

 ers has had the same unfortunate result, and there is 

 danger, too, in the small shops, as the limited space makes 

 it difficult to prevent the various members of the family 

 from coming into too close contact with the milk contain- 

 ers and with the milk itself. 



Large companies are better able to bear the expense 

 resulting from the observance of hygienic requirements, 

 and the sanitary control of these may be much more 

 easily effected than in the case of numerous small con- 

 cerns. It is to be observed also that many of the large 

 milk establishments have voluntarily adopted standards 

 for the production and handling of milk that are in ad- 

 vance of requirements of the health authorities. There 

 are no proven cases of milk epidemics traced to infec- 

 tion through milk from well conducted large concerns ; 

 no doubt the mixing of a large quantity of milk lessens 

 the danger of infection, since usually a certain amount 

 of infectious material is necessary to produce infec- 

 tion. On the other hand, however, the mixing together 

 of a great quantity of milk, under unfavorable condi- 

 tions, may be particularly dangerous because if a milk 

 epidemic were caused it would be very widely spread. 



