The morning call., 1892-01-31
GERMS FOUND
IN COWS MILK.
A Comparatively New Discovery That
Will Save Little Ones.
Milk From the Cow Is Pure, But the Microbes
Swarm in the Stables and Soon Get Into
It-Amount Of Heat Necessary.

One-fourth of all the deaths In the United
States are children under l year of age, and
nearly One-half, in round numbers 100000,
are of children under 5. In cities this pro-
portion rises during the warmer part of the
year. until One-half of all the deaths are Of
babies under II months old. The majority
of these children die of germ diseases, H.
trOduced into the system in the unc0Oked
milk and water, which constitutes the sole
diet of infants and the principal food Of oil
young children, writes Frances Fisher
to the Pittsburg Dispatch. The intestinal
diseases, counted non-cOntagiOuS, carry off
by far the greatest number.
Experience has proved that these troubles
may be modified, or in some cases entirely
eliminated by the use Of germless food. By
feeding the child only milk that has been
steriZed and water that has been boiled
we cease to feed the disease and begin to
nuursh the child. SteriliZed milk is cOm-
paratively a new discovery, and the differ
ence between its use aud abuse is not yet
distinctly defined in theNpublic mind. The
apparent simplicity OF its production has
misled many physicians as well as mothers
into applying the name to an article which
possesses none of the virtues of sterilized
milk. Milk is really sterilZed only when 1t
10 CllIlLClJ 1lOO HUM SOilil lllN'
WHAT GERMAN SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED.
American Investigation on the subject has
been extremely crude. and so far is still
totally inadequate as a basis for sound con-
clusiOn Fortunately, in Europe the subject
has received due consideration. German
scientists especially have given much time
II the investigation Of the effect of various
kinds Of milk in intestinal diseases of chill
diem. Tyndall, Lister and Pasteur have
themselves taken milk from the cow, under
varying degrees OF atmospheric purity,
carefully noting in each case the favorable
or unfav0Table environment, and they
unanimously declare that all milk from a
healthy COW is absolutely Dure-that is,
germless, as it flows from the udder; but
that its composition, its animal heat and its
exposed surface all combine 10 render ii a
most favorable medium for the cultivation
Of bacteria. while on the other hand the
atmosphere OF the ordinary stable, swarm
ing as it is with germ life, az once furnishes
In plentiful measure the seed, which, COM
ing in contact with the milk, at once begin
to multi ly at an appalling ratio
Koch. Escherich, and their celebrated CO.
workers have supplemented the inyestiga-
tons Of milk, IN its natural condition by
valuable studies of the germ life which is
found in the intestinal tract OF an infant,
and have noted its variation in health and
disease. They could cOnclusively demon
sLrate the poisonous effects Of impure and
gel Il-ldNtIl I4lIh upUH ll0 QCiICdl6 QlbG6kiF6
organs Of a child.
GERMANY IS TAKING NO CHANCES.
All these scientists conclude that there is
no strictly pure milk except that taken d.
rectly from the udder of the COW, and that
the milk delivered in cities, whether twelve,
twenty -four or thirty-siX hours old. is
swarming with microbes, and that 1t varies
only in the degree of its dangerous proper
ties. In Germany the danger of using un-
heated milk is so clearly cOmprehended that
legal enactiOus are becoming every year
more stringent and 1t is already difficult
for a traveller in that country to procure
glass OF milk that has not been first steamed
or boiled.
In America intelligent mothers who per-
sonauy attend to the steriI,Zing, and the
physicians who use milk that is really and
not simply nOmnally sterilze1, have, with
out exception, obtained remarkably fayora-
BILE results; while mothers whose dOmestics
superintend the "Steril.Zing," and young
physicians whose work lies chiefly in the
babies hospitals and asylumns IN large
cities usually declare that SteTlilZed milk is
overpTaisrd. The second class use sterIliZed
milk which they by courtesy call sterlliZed,
and 40 not obtain good results.
Contrary TO the more mature opinion of
European authorities an American pLvSi-
clan will occasionally affirm that steriilZlng
milk renders il less digestible, because it
coagulates the albumen. Cooking meat and
eggs cOaRuIdI6S inc diDunen, out we 40 not
therefore conclude that meat and eggs
should be eaten raw. On the contrary, it is
known that cooking meat renders it more
digestlble, providing always that it is not
overdone. So in like manner the digestibn-
ity Of steril.Zed milk depends upon the de-
gree and duration of the heat which is APP
piled. Milk that IS SWdTmlng with micro bes
cannot be sterilized without prolonged heat
applied OIL successive days, and so. not
without too great coagulati0n. But fresh
milk can be freed from germs with such
moderate application Of steam that when
once the milk is rcaerated il is difficult to
mlking-pail
Oae nurse who published her prejudicps
against sterIIized milk explained that it
would disagree with her charge, even
though she steamed it three hours. Ii is as
if we were to roast beef for twelve hours in
hot oven, and as a result of its unWhule-
.nmauEss Annlara Tint aLI Lhnf Is indirnst-