PURE versus pueified milk 245 



teurization admit the contention. The radicals, in 

 a word, want pure milk, not purified milk. 



Pure milk, say the radicals, is obtainable with 

 the knowledge we now have. The risk of trans- 

 mitting the germs of any disease, either of human 

 or bovine origin, to the consumers of milk, whether 

 they be adults or infants, would be reduced to zero 

 practically. And while cow's milk cannot be con- 

 sidered an ideal and absolutely safe food for infants, 

 however pure it may be, except when modified and 

 distilled through the lacteal glands of the mother, 

 milk of the standard of excellence described would 

 be as safe as science knows how to secure it, and the 

 mortality of infants would be much lessened as a 

 result of its general use. 



So much for the point of view of the radicals. 

 Now let us turn to the opportunists, to the advo- 

 cates of purification. The methods of purification 

 usually employed upon a large scale, and recom- 

 mended by reformers, are pasteurization and ster- 

 ihzation. The latter method is almost universally 

 used in France and England and some other Euro- 

 pean countries in connection with the infants' milk 

 depots. In this country the former method pre- 

 vails, sterilization being rarely or never practised. 

 The principle involved in both methods is the same, 

 the difference being in the degree of heat to which 

 the milk is exposed and the length of the exposure. 



