TYPHOID FEVER IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
67 
METHOD OF CLEANING BOTTLES. 
The bottles are washed either by hand or by machine. Only a few 
dailies ha ve bottle-washing machines. As a rule, the bottles are first 
washed in warm water containing w^^andotte,” soapine, soap, 
‘‘savagran,” ‘^Swift’s powder,’’ or other similar preparations. They 
are then rinsed in cold tap water. Some of the dairies have poor 
facilities for obtaining hot water. Many have rotary brushes to 
assist in the first washing. These brushes are either turned by 
mechanical power or by foot treadle. In the latter case it ^vas found 
that the operator of the washer sometimes neglects to keep the treadle 
in motion. 
For the most part the washing of the bottles is exceedingly unsatis- 
factory, both from a sanitary standpoint and from one of mechanical 
cleanliness. The first water in wliich they are washed, containing 
an alkaline soapy substance, is usually warm but not hot enough to 
be uncomfortable to the hand; it is therefore scarcely sufficient to 
destroy infection that may return in the bottles. The bottles are 
then quickly passed into another tub of clear water, which soon 
becomes milky and alkaline, making a ver}^ good culture medium for 
the preservation and growth of certain infections that may be present, 
especially typhoid. 
It is the usual practice to leave the bottles in the dairy right side up, 
exposed to the dust of the street and stable and to contamination b}^ 
flies, mice, etc., before filling. A few dairymen turn the bottles 
upside down and protect them from this risk. 
DISINFECTION OF THE BOTTLES. 
» 
In only 5 of the 38 dairies inspected can it be said that the bottles 
are disinfected. In these 5 instances the disinfection consists of 
steaming or scalding with boiling water. In at least two of these five 
tlie bottles were passed through a washing machine which provided 
for their disinfection by a jet of steaming water, but at the time of 
inspection the water used in the machine was not hot enough. The 
steaming or scalding of the bottles should, of course, be the last process 
to which they are subjected prior to cooling and filling. 
When we remember that milk bottles are frequently used b}^ house- 
holders for many purposes, that they often get into the sick room and 
run many chances of contamination with the infectious agents of 
typhoid fever or other diseases, it would not be umeasonable to 
require their disinfection by all dairymen. 
