Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-04-02
The Matter Of Impure MILK.


The president of the society for the proven
ton OF cruelty to animals. has enlarged the
sphere OF his labOrS so that men, as well as
brutes, come under his protection. Though,
his onslaught OIL Brooklyn swill milk is
primarily, perhaps, ANNA Ted by sympathy for
the cow, crumbs of profit can hardly fail to
fall to man. The discussion of the subject of
foods, is Away of practical benefit and among
foods milk which contains within itself all the
elements of nutrition i'm their most digestible
form, ranks high in value. SO that Mr..
Berghs operations in Brooklyn. though ap-
Parently unsuccessful. are of considerable i'm
pOrtance from the fact that they attract public
attention TO the evils of a diseased or adulter-
ated food, and emphasize the necessity of
guarding against them. Milk is of world
WIDE use. The quantity consumed by the
Americans is incOnSderable when compared
with the allowance of the peasant of Sweden
Norway or Switzerland or the Bedouin of
Arabia. Cows milk is most popular in this
country. being agreeable in taste. and having
a fuller flavor than some varieties without the
strong taste or SUrfeiting qualities that char
acteriZe others. There is no doubt that the
Kind and quantity of food furnished the cow
have a great influence OH the quality of
milk. Dry food makes the milk rich i'm
solids, grass causes it TO abound in fat
Mr.. Bergh found cows in Brooklyn that were
led entirely on the Slush that remains after
gram has undergone the process of diStillatiOn
and fermentation. 1t is SD exhausted of nu-
TRENT powers that thirty-five gallons daily are
required To sustain life in each wretched ami
mai. The cows stand month by month in pens
whose walls are sometimes covered with a
humld Shiny vapOr, and when their food of
feeking SlOp has produced dangerous symp
toms they are driven To the Shambles and con
'erted into food. Thus the evils of the con-
sumption of diseased flesh are added to
those that proceed from the Use of a liquid
which, within ten minutes after the Slop is
sucked up. "beginS' says Mr. Bergh ito be
strained through the organs Of the udder In
the form of a blue, watery insipid secretion,
which these Swill-milk aSsaSSinS impUdeutIy
call milk, when it is only the diluted mucus of
Il diseased body 1t has been said that the
hl'h OF diseased animals does not appear to
contain any known germs of disease, and that
VI differs from that of healthy animals ONLY in
the le>sPned proportion of all nutritive ele
ments. Mr.. Bergh thinks that experience
teaches differently. and traces fearful in
crease III scrofula, tUmOrS and cancers to this
cause. Disgusting diseases, arising from the
nature of their food. are bred i'm the COW. are
absorbed by the blood, and at last concentrate
In the milk to be distributed wholesale among
evil which is attacked in Brooklyn does not.
OF course, prevail here. But wherever cows
are fed on kitchen refuse, or closely confined
In pens, consumers of their milk are exposed
to similar dangers. The pale blush color of
much of our Washington milk may not ALWAYS
be attributable to water. This last word sug-
gests also that the blame for deteriorated milk
can, by no means. always be Justly placed
upon the cow. Water, chalk, flour, starch
and plaster of Paris are the tools with which
the notorious milkman practices the counter
letters art. Thus liable to be betrayed both
by COW and milkman, the unhappy fugitive
from the sewer-water of the pumps, and, at
times, from the fshy. muddy wafer of the Pc
tomac, longs for the adoption of the Spanish
custom, in accordance with which the cows
would be driven from country to town early
in the morning and MIXED 'in the presence
of the cuStOmaire,,