Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-01-24
Death in ,I,n Will, pail.

Not long since Professor Low of Cornell uni
yersity observed a PECULIARLY in the cream from
the milk furnished by the milkman. 1t APP
pearcd to be ropy, and on subiccting il to an
examination under a powerful microscope, it
was found to contain large number of living
organism IN different stages of growth, Push
lng ms Investigations further, the professor
called upon the milkman to inquire concerning
me management and keeping of his cows, and
the manner in which the milk was cared for
Here he found on looking over the premises,
that the cows, for lack of good, clean water
the season being unusually dry-were forced to
SAKE thelr thirst IN stagnant pool located in a
muddy swale. Taking specimens of this water,
ana examining it under the microscope, the
same class of organisms was found as those in
the mlk. 1t was now pretty evident where the
cause OF the trouble lay; but to make the
matter more clear, specimens of blood were
taken from the cows and examined under
the microscope, when these also were found to
contain the same class of organisms. The ami
mails on applying thermometer tests for deter
MINING health or disease, we've found to be hot
and tevcrlSh, thus showing that these living
organisms, introduced through the medium of
the filthy water and taken into the circulation,
by their power of reproduction and multiplied
ton in the blood became the source of disease.
investigating still further, a particle of the
hlthy water was introduced in o milk free from
such organisms, and known from tests to be in
good order, and in a short time the same filthy
organisms multiplied and took possession in
vast numbers, producing the same character of
milk as that first noticed. Other experiments
and Investigations were made, but all similar in
results to those we have described.
These facts are OF very great importance to
dairymen, and although ii was known that milk
from cows drinking the putrid or foul water of
sloughs and mud holes had caused much trou-
bic at cheese factories, still, dairymcn hardly
appreciated the full extent of the trouble, or
we're aware of the precise nature of the injury
caused by such water. II the lives of these foul
organisms are not destroyed when taken up by
cows IN their drink, but pass INTO the circula-
non, talntng their blood, entering the secretion
and establishing their filthy abode in the milk,
there TO increase and multiply in vast numbers,
causing the milk to be a mass of filth,
then it is reasonable to suppose that
persons partakiug of this milk, even
when freshly drawn, are liable to have their
blood lnoculated, ana thereby contract di sease.
Who can say that malignant ieyers and fatal
epidcmics do not often originate from these
sources? The facts brought out in these nvesti-
cations would seem to warrant the superstition.
AT any rate, they are of a character sufficiently
startling, and should arrest the attention of
those who have the care Of the milk and who
are in the habit of using milk freely. They
prove that at least good, clean water is a prere-
qulsite for the cow to yield good, healthy milk,
and That there is more danger in allowing stock
to Stake thirst in foul stagnant pools than has
commonly been supposed.