334 
State  Control  of  Diseases. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       July,  1910. 
State  Department  of  Health  to  guard  the  centres  where  the  milk 
is  produced.  Therefore,  our  township  health .  officers  are  regularly 
instructed  to  inspect  the  dairy  farms  in  Pennsylvania.  The  total 
number  of  dairies  inspected  in  1908  was  17,618.  Of  these  2,442 
were  found  to  be  in  a  condition  which  entitled  them  to  the  highest 
commendation.  Of  the  remainder  many  were  comparatively  clean 
and  carefully  conducted  but  failed  in  one  or  more  of  the  eight 
particulars  noted  on  the  inspection  card. 
For  instance,  on  480  farms,  cattle  were  found  to  be  drinking 
polluted  water.  In  about  2500  dairies,  the  floors  of  the  stables  were 
in  an  extremely  filthy  condition.  In  about  the  same  number  the 
milkers  did  not  wash  their  hands  or  the  udders  of  the  cows  before 
milking,  nor  did  they  wear  any  clean  protective  covering  to  prevent 
dust  and  filth  from  their  clothing  falling  in  the  milk. 
It  has  been  gratifying  to  discover  that  so  far  from  appearing 
antagonistic  the  dairymen  have  been  generally  most  ready  to  co- 
operate with  the  agents  of  the  department  in  the  inspections  and  to 
afford  every  facility,  appreciating  that  it  was  to  their  interest  to 
comply  with  all  the  instructions  furnished  by  us  and  thus  secure  the 
confidence  of  the  public  in  the  purity  of  their  product. 
Stream  Inspection. — Side  by  side  with  the  work  of  general 
medical  inspection,  has  gone  the  campaign  for  pure  water.  This 
has  been  conducted  by  a  fully  equipped  sanitary  engineering  divi- 
sion. To  stop  the  pollutions  of  the  waters  of  the  state  and  reclaim 
them  as  nearly  as  possible  to  their  virgin  purity — this  is  a  work 
fraught  with  obstacles  and  yet  so  important  to  the  health  of  our 
people  that  it  invites  our  most  earnest  efforts. 
Five  years  ago  the  picture  of  stream  pollution  in  Pennsylvania 
presented  a  sorry  sight ;  the  individual  householder  constructing 
an  overhanging  privy  and  polluting  the  stream  that  finds  its  way 
past  his  property ;  the  small  town  defiling  with  raw  sewage  a  stream 
of  water  that  is  expected  to  quench  the  thirst  of  villagers  not  far 
away ;  the  large  municipalities  discharging  the  contents  of  their  ex- 
tensive sewers  into  the  river  that  is  the  water  supply  for  thousands 
and  thousands  of  human  beings  down  stream.  This  had  been  going 
on  for  generations. 
Since  the  organization  of  our  Sanitary  Engineering  Division, 
18,945  private  sources  of  stream  pollution  have  been  abated  upon 
notice  from  the  department,  not  to  speak  of  the  thousands  more 
that  have  been  stopped  through  the  moral  influence  of  this  work. 
