80 
TYPHOID FEVER IH DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
In general our laboratory results confirm the conclusions arrived 
at from an inspection of the dairies and dairy farms that much of the 
milk sold in the District is old, warm, and dirty, is not handled with 
intelligent or proper care, and that unless this condition of affairs is 
corrected it must remain a menace to the public health, not only from 
the standpoint of t}^hoid fever, but also diphtheria, scarlet fever, 
summer complaints of children, tuberculosis, etc. 
A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE UPON THE BACTERIOLOGY OF 
MILK. 
It is interesting to review the recent literature upon the number 
and kinds of bacteria found in milk to compare vfith our work. The 
following is taken largely from the excellent referate contained in 
contribution to the bacteriology of milk,’’ b}^ Alfred MacConkey, 
Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, published in the Journal 
of Hygiene, volume 6, July, 1906, page 385; from Allgemeine 
Morphologie und Biologie der pathogenen Mikroorganismen by E. 
Gotschlich, in Kolle & Massermann’s Handbuch der pathogenen 
Mikroorganismen, 1st Bd., page 29; from Park’s Pathogenic Micro- 
organisms, including Bacteria and Protozoa, 1905; and from various 
other sources. 
Sedgvuck and Batchelder “ (1892) found that, with moderate pre- 
cautions on the part of the milker, the number of bacteria in fresh 
milk may not exceed 500 to 1,000 per cubic centimeter; but when 
the ordinary fiaring milk pail is used, vuth more or less disturbance 
of the bedding and shaking of the udder, as many as 30,000 bacteria 
have been counted in 1 cc. 
The fact that it is practically impossible, under ordinary conditions, 
to obtain milk uncontaminated vuth cowdung is believed by many. 
The constant presence of such pollution has been suggested by Park.^ 
(1901). 
Delepine (1903) considers that it is even difficult to conceive 
how slight fecal pollution of cow’s milk can be prevented under any 
circumstances. 
Boekhout and de Vries'^ (1904) are of the same opinion. 
MacConkey, however, finds that with ordinary care and cleanli- 
ness it is possible to obtain milk which when freshly drawn contains 
less than 1,500 organisms per cubic centimeter; and, further, that 
such milk should not contain gas-forming organisms in less than 
50 cc. 
Comparing these results with the work of others we find that Park 
« Sedgwick and Batchelder. Boston Med. and Snrg. Joiirn., 1892. 
& Park, W. H. Journ. Hyg., vol. 1, p. 391. 
c Delepine, S. Journ. Hyg., vol. 3. p. 68. 
Boekhout and de Vries. Centblt. f. Bakt., Abt. 2, Bd. 12, p. 89. 
