Milk. 167 



the moral effect of the publicity given to the work of the 

 public analysts ? 



The other method which might be adopted is to fix by 

 legislation a standard — a reasonable, fair standard — for milk, 

 which must be reached by all milk offered for sale. The 

 chief analyst has proposed such a standard as follows : — 



Total Solid 12- per cent. 



Butter Fat 3-5 " 



Solids other than fat 8-5 " " 



Milk falling below these limits should not be permitted to 

 be sold. 



If this scheme were adopted and vigorously carried out, 

 I think we should soon see a marked improvement. Not 

 only would the addition of water and the removal of cream 

 be checked, but the quality of the cows used for milk 

 purposes would be improved. For if a cow did not give 

 milk up to the standard she would be better fed and better 

 housed ; aud if she still did not give standard milk she 

 would be sold to the butcher and replaced by a good milker. 

 Quality as well as quantity would be sought for in dairy 

 cows ; and we know enough of what can be done by cattle- 

 breeders to be quite sure that within reasonable limits we 

 can get what we want. 



Hitherto we have been considering m.ilk as a food, and as 

 the most perfect food imaginable for the purpose for which 

 nature provides it. We have now to see how, under certain 

 circumstances, it may become a poison, or may become the 

 v.ehicle of a poison, as deadly as that of the rattlesnake. 



It has long been known that every now and then severe 

 illness has been caused by eating cheese. Now, in its 

 normal state cheese is a most wholesome and nutritive 

 article of diet ; but from time to time cases of poisoning 

 have occurred, and often cases of wholesale poisoning, which 

 have been traced without any shadow of a doubt to cheese. 

 It was formerly supposed that these cases were due to some 

 mineral matter introduced into the cheese. But in many 

 cases the poisonous cheese has been submitted to analysis 

 and no trace of any mineral matter found. These cases of 



