593 
It must be quite evident to anyone who gives the matter thought- 
ful attention that the heating of milk, like the use of antiseptics, is an 
expedient rather than an ideal procedure. “Antisepsis ” was a great 
improvement in surgery, but “ asepsis,” or the absence of germs, is 
the ideal. In the same sense, heating improve bacteria-laden and 
dirty milk, but clean milk is the end we must seek. “ Pure milk is 
better than purified milk.” 
Milk presents the strange contradiction of being the most whole- 
some single foodstuff, and sometimes one of the most poisonous of 
all foods. A single feeding of a few gills of milk containing patho- 
genic bacteria or the toxic products of bacterial activity frequently 
results in sickness and death. Milk sometimes contains such violent 
poisons as to cause death in a few hours. Ordinarily, milk contains 
very many bacteria: in fact, milk containing less than 10,000 bac- 
teria per cubic centimeter is considered of excellent quality, and milk 
containing 100,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter is generally consid- 
ered good. 
Of all foodstuffs, milk is the most difficult to preserve pure and 
handle with success. It requires not only intelligence, but a high 
degree of technical training, as well as incessant vigilance, to produce 
a clean and safe milk. Many believe that this end may be accom- 
plished by official supervision and a good system of inspection. How- 
ever, Ave can scarcely conceive of any system of surveillance of the 
milk supply that will prevent its occasional contamination. In fact, 
the highest grade of certified milk has at times been accused of caus-^ 
ing outbreaks of disease. Such lapses are infrequent and the danger 
slight. These facts are stated not as an argument that certified milk 
should be pasteurized, but simply to show the difficulties of obtaining 
a safe raw product. 
Preventive measures are better than corrective ones. Pasteuriza- 
tion can not atone for filth. Milk should be produced under clean 
conditions and kept clean and it would not then have to be purified. 
But we must guard against enemies as long as they exist. We would 
all like to do away with the necessity for armies and navies, but pres- 
ent conditions demand their maintenance. The same is true of harm- 
ful bacteria in milk; so long as the aA^erage market milk is apt to 
contain these insidious foes, the only protection we haA^e is to destroy 
them with heat. 
There can be no more objection to the heating of milk for the use 
of adults and children aboA^e the age of 3 years than there is to the 
cooking of meat. Even Fliigge,® who was one of the first to sound the 
a Fltigge : Die Aufgaben und Lelstungen der Milchsterilisirung gegeniiber den 
Darmkrankbeiten der Sanglinge. Zeit. f. Hyg., vol. 17, 1894, p. 272. 
24907— Bull. 41—08 38 
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