252 THE COMMON SENSE OF ThIe MILK QUESTION 



Fahrenheit for at least twenty minutes, sometimes 

 for thirty minutes. It has been found to be imprac- 

 ticable to raise the temperature above 167° without 

 impairing the taste of the milk, and that exposure 

 for twenty minutes to that temperature does effec- 

 tually destroy the tubercle baciUi. The greatest 

 living authorities, including Professor Bang,' Theo- 

 bald Smith,' Professor Pearson of Pennsylvania," 

 Drs. Park," Holt," and Freeman," are agreed as 

 to this. There are, I believe, records of experiments 

 which appear to controvert this, but they are of 

 very doubtful value. ^' The evidence is overwhelm- 

 ingly in favor of the claim that scientific pasteur- 

 ization does destroy all disease germs. 



It has never been suggested by any competent 

 authority that any cbnsiderable number of tubercle 

 baciUi survive exposure for twenty minutes to a 

 temperature of 167° Fahrenheit. Even if a few 

 escape imder exceptional conditions, it would still 

 be quite fair for the advocates of pasteurization to 

 urge its claims upon the basis of its germicidal value. 

 With all my sympathies on the side of the radicals, 

 I cannot resist the conclusion that a candid study 

 of the facts will destroy the value of the criticism 

 we are considering, when it is directed against scien- 

 tific pasteurization. It is most unfortunate that 

 efficient pasteurization should be discredited on 

 accoimt of a commercial imitation, to which the 



