FILTH AS infants' FOOD 87 



to carelessness and ignorance, and not to any defects 

 in the animals from which the milk was drawn. That 

 is a fundamental characteristic of the problem every- 

 where. In every case, wherever there is impure milk, 

 the failure of human intelligence is responsible. "WTien 

 milk is contaminated, man is to blame, and not the 

 humble animal from which the milk comes. In its 

 original state, as contained in the udder of the cow, 

 the milk is pure and sweet and free from all foul and 

 dangerous matter, assuming that there is no disease 

 of the mammary gland or udder.' Lister showed as 

 far back as 1873 that milk, while in the mammary 

 gland of the healthy cow, is absolutely free from bac- 

 teria and, being sterile, if it could be drawn from the 

 udder and kept in that pure state, would never sour 

 nor ferment. As a matter of actual experience, it 

 may be said that milk is rarely drawn from the cow 

 absolutely sterile and free from bacterial life. Bac- 

 teria are so numerous and omnipresent, being found 

 in the cow's teats, on the hairs of the cow, in the milk 

 pails in cracks and rims, as well as in the air, that only 

 by methods which seem almost miraculous and im- 

 possible in ordinary practice is it possible to produce 

 milk that is absolutely sterile in its natural state. It 

 is by no means uncommon, however, for milk to be 

 produced, in small quantities, and under special con- 

 ditions, in which no bacteria can be found by the ordi- 

 nary methods of microscopic observation. Dr. Park 



