CONDITIONS AND DISEASES OF THE COW INJURIOUSLY 
AFFECTING THE MILK. 
By John R. Mohler, A. M, V. M. D., 
Chief of the Pathological Division , Bureau of Animal Industry. 
IMPORTANCE OF A WHOLESOME MILK SUPPLY. 
The reasons for securing a supply of pure and wholesome milk are 
so numerous and so important that the public should become ac- 
quainted with some of the more essential of them in order that assist- 
ance may be rendered in bringing about a satisfactory improvement. 
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. Furthermore, 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 an} r deleterious organisms. Not only is milk a very suitable 
medium for almost every description of germ life which may gain 
access to it in its journey 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. In this paper, 
however, consideration will be given only to the latter aspect of the 
subject. 
In this connection it will be necessary to keep in mind the require- 
ments of an awakened 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 described certain pre- 
cautions must be taken, which will necessarily entail additional ex- 
pense upon the producer of this higher grade of milk. The customer 
must therefore 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. 
( 501 ) 
