CONDITIONS AND DISEASES OF THE COW INJURIOUSLY 
AFFECTING THE MILK. 
By John R. Mohler, A. M., Y. M. D.. 
Chief of the Pathological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry. 
IMPORTANCE OF A WHOLESOME MILK SUPPLY. 
The importance of obtaining a hygienic and wholesome milk supply 
is recognized by all intelligent people and should require no argument. 
Public health demands the purity of all milk and milk products. 
Next to bread, milk is more extensively used as an article of diet than 
any other foodstuff. It forms a portion of the food of almost every 
person on practically every day of the year. Moreover, unlike many 
other articles of diet, milk is consumed in most cases in an uncooked 
state, making it a very dangerous food should it perchance contain any 
deleterious organisms. The reasons for securing a supply of pure and 
wholesome milk are so numerous and so important that the consumer 
should become acquainted with some of the more essential of them 
in order that he may render assistance in bringing about a satisfactory 
improvement. 
Xot only is milk a very suitable medium for almost every description 
of germ life which may gain access to it in its j oumey from the cow to 
the consumer, but it may also become contaminated while still in the 
udder through infectious or poisonous material present in the cow 
herself. Consideration in this paper will be given only to the latter 
aspect of the question of a wholesome milk supply. In this connec- 
tion it will be necessary to keep in mind the requirements of an awak- 
ened public for a clean and wholesome milk, as well as the effect of 
any unreasonable or irrational demand upon the producer which may 
cause him heavy losses or even to discontinue his business. 
It will also be apparent that in order to produce milk in compliance 
with the requirements hereafter to be described, certain precautions 
must be taken which will necessarily entail additional expense upon 
the producer of this higher grade of milk. The customer must, there- 
fore, expect to pay his portion of any legitimate advance in the cost of 
production, and such increase in the price of milk due to its improved 
quality should be considered as money well expended. 
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