FILTH AS INFANTS' FOOD 107 



a pint will do. And Mrs. Goldstein is so obliging 

 that, if you only have two cents to spare, you can 

 buy two cents' worth. The milk is kept in a big can 

 in the corner of the store, near to where the coal-box 

 and the barrel of pickles are. Sometimes the cover 

 is left lying for hours on the little shelf above, when 

 Mrs. Goldstein is so busy that she forgets to put it 

 right back. The dipper is usually hanging alongside 

 of the can, but occasionally one of the Goldstein 

 children takes it away so that Mrs. Goldstein has to 

 go all over the place to look for it before you can get 

 your milk. Of course, millions upon millions of 

 bacteria can get into milk in a store like this — 

 not to mention some bigger things ! — but then, 

 Mrs. Goldstein does not know. She never heard about 

 bacteria in milk or anywhere else. When the milk 

 is placed in Mrs. Jones's pitcher and handed to her 

 by Mrs. Goldstein, neither woman knows that there 

 are more than a hundred and thirty-three millions 

 of germs to every fifteen drops,* many times more 

 than would be found in an equal quantity of sewage 

 water. Yet such is the case. 



Now, Mrs. Jones takes the milk out into the street, 

 where the air is full of germs, in an open pitcher, 

 thus making it possible for more bacteria to enter it. 

 Through the long hallway, up three flights of stairs, 



* An actual occurrence. See p. IIQ. 



