MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 713 



We can leave bacteriologists to settle the question of 

 whether milk drawn from the udder is germ free. It is 

 quite certain from the moment it enters the milk-pail it is 

 infected ; this infection may result from the air of the cow- 

 shed, from the hands of the milker, the dirt, hair, etc., 

 from the udder of the cow, and from want of cleanliness in 

 the vessels used for milking. 



All of these are more or less under control ; the proper 

 care of the air of the building has been fully considered in 

 previous pages. The other sources of infection may now 

 be dealt with. 



The ill effects milk may produce on man are not, with the 

 exception of tuberculosis, due to anything derived from the 

 cow, but to the hands or clothing of the milker, or to contact 

 with those persons charged with the preparation and 

 delivery of milk. 



All milk epidemics, be they enteric, scarlet fever, diph- 

 theria, or sore throat, may safely be attributed to human 

 contamination. Considering the number of hands and 

 sources of infection that milk is exposed to through human 

 agency, from the moment it is propelled into the pail until 

 it reaches the consumer, the unprejudiced observer will 

 readily recognise the attitude adopted by the entire veterinary 

 profession on this question. The position taken up has 

 been quite unshaken by twenty years' efforts to saddle the 

 cow with producing the above specific diseases in the human 

 subject. 



That dirt from the cow finds its way into milk is 

 undoubted, the quarters and udder are often filthy, the 

 most elementary care is frequently not observed. Cows in 

 their standings are not kept clean, the flooring is not 

 arranged so as to carry their excreta away from their bodies ; 

 they are prevented from licking themselves by being packed 

 two in a stall ; they are not groomed, and at pasture they 

 are allowed to wallow in filth. It is therefore no wonder 

 that dirt from their bodies finds its way into the milk. 



But look also at the milker, little if any cleaner ; his 

 clothing is dirty, his hands and nails filthy, his habits 



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