The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-04-11
MILK POISONING.

The Inquiries of DR. r. f, Brush, attend.
ing physician TO the New-York Infant Asy-
lum, rs to the diseases caused by diseased
milk, have from time to time been noticed
in these eol,anns. According to Dr. Brush,
there are certain causes that render milk
poisonous which are almost inseparablc
from the conduct of dairy farm. In the
first instance having been fed on dry food
for the whole Winter, animals are turned
ont in the Spring to subsist on the full flush
of grass picking up green fruit, eating
grains that render the milk very albuuinons
and prone to putrefaction and cropping
poisonous weeds, as we'll as drinking water
that is staguaut aud poisonous These and
other conditions regularly incident to the
conduct of the dairy farm render the milk
so abnormal that the butter makers viii not
receive it, and it has to be sent to the market
in cans to be distributed among City con-
sumers for consumption asmk Dr. Brush
is of the opinion that nearly all the cases of
infantine diaIThea, and many of infantine
commissions, are due TO acute milk poisoning,
and should be registered rs such in our sta
tistics of disease and he gives record of
eases which tends to establish his view of
the subject Using his own cows for the
purpose, he bruised the udders of animals,
or sections of the udder thus producing
what would be styled a traumatic garget--a
very common trouble with cows in the Sum-
mer ranging i'll pasture lands He found
that the milk from the bruised section of the
udder was stringy lumpy purulent, and al
kaline, while that of the unbrnised sections
was decidedly acid This condition lasted
four days after the bruising, and to test the
effect he gave to an infant in his own family
four ounces of the abnormal secretion. The
baby was 16 months old, and the milk was
administered at o'clock in the evening
After being fed the infant fell asleep and
slept about two hours then awoke crying
with gastric pain, and remained in acute
suffering until midnight, when violent in
famine diarrhea supervened and continued
for q couple of days. The milk was, of
course, Immediately discontinued and. the
infant slowly recovered. Dr. Brush cites
many instances in his practice in which he
has traced intantine disease and commissions
to the immediate effect of poisonous milk;
and it should be understood that in these
cases the cattle were not specifically diseased,
but the disturbance of the milk was due to
temporary disturbance of the nervous sys-
tenn of the animal, such as being driven too
rapidly from the pasture, frightened by
whipping and abuse, or excited by fighting
with other animals. Any one of these
causes, in the absence of specific disease, is
competent to produce such disturbance Of
the tactical secretion MS to render it unfit for
use in infant feeding and very deleterious to
the health of adults. In several cases of in
fants from 10 to Is months DIR. Brush has
traced disease, commissions, and death in
few hours to the use of milk from excited
animals. The commissions in these eases are
usually of a tonic cast (not clonie spasms}
and are very profound and tenacious. In
one case the baby died in ten hours in Il
second recovery was only assured by per-
emptory stoppage of the milk diet aud n
substitution of beef.tea and oat meal grael.
The agency of milk poisoning in swelling
the statistics of infant mortality is something
that, in the opinion of DIR. Brush, can hard
ly be exaggerated lie proposes no means
by which these faults may be remedied, but
simply calls attention TO them MS facts that
should enter into legislation on diseased
milk should such legislation ever be under.
taken as suggested by the most astute yeter-
jnarians. ~. Y. Times