The morning call., 1893-09-28
GERMS IN MILK.
Result of DR.. McQuesten's
Investigation.
DISMISSAL OF DIR. r. B. SMITH
Attorney Knight Submits Some Legal
Advice to the Board of Health at
Its Special Meeting.

The Board of Health held a special
meeting yesterday morning in order to
consider the appointment of al official
! bacteriOl0gist, who shall examine into
and report upon all cases of diphtheria, sc
that quarantine regulations might not be
needlessly put into effect.
| There was no disagreement among the
members Of the board as TO the impor-
| tance of such an official. but they all came
to the con clusion thatit would be useless tC
ask the Supervisors to appropriate enough
money 10 pay the salary. Consequently
the matter was indefinitely postponed.
Then the matter Of the suspension of Dr.
Il. B. Smith, one of the internes Of the Re-
| ceiving Hospital, was taken up. Police
Surgeon Somers suspended Smith several
weeks ago, but failed to file any definite
reasons for his action. Thereupon the
latter demanded that he be confronted
with written charges and that he be given
| a chance to justify him self.
DR.. SomeTs sent a communication to the
Board of Health which stated that Smith
had been relieved from duty because in
the opinion of the Police Surgeon it was
for the best interests of the city. The COM
munica ton stated that Smith handled the
patients roughly and unskillfully, and that
he was not, in the estimation Of the writer,
fit and proper person to I'LL the position.
DR.. Smith denied that what DIR. SOmers
said was correct and objected that there
was still an absence of particulars.
Mayor Eilert said that as the heads of
departments were responsible for the ae-
tions Of their subOTdinates he was in favor
of sustaining DR.. Somers. Accordingly
DR.. Mays made motion to that effect,
which was unanimously carried.
(rnoTpn a knight at.OrnpU for Tho
board, submitted a communication con-
cerning the proposed ordinances regulating
the sale of milk in the city and county and
for the appointment of a milk inspector
Mr. Knight held that there was no doubt
of the power Of the Board of Supervisors
to fix a milk standard. Without such a
standard he did not believe that the ordi
nance would be effective. lie also thought
that it would be possible TO compel all
miiE-deGlerS to register and receive a
license before they were allowed TO 60 into
such business.
The opinion was referred to a special
committee.
There was then read the following COM
munication from DR.. Charles McQuesten
desire TO call your attention TO the various
brands OF so-calied steriiZed condensed milk
ana cream now offer, for sale I'm this city.
Recently l made number of micrOseopical
examinations Of different brands OF such milk
and cream. l was assisted in these examina-
Z
scOpcal experts in this State. This assistance
] considered necessary in order tnat the exam
lnatlOn be thorough and careful and also that
there be cOneensuS of opinion as 10 results
found. found that some Of the samples eX-
amined were not steriliZed, although advertised
as thoroughly steiiliZed and pure" Some OF
these samples swarmed with dlsease-prOducing
germs, and as such were unfit for human food.
A use of such milk and cream for food would
probably produce disease either in infants or
adults. ! also found that the usual method of
The So-called sterilization OF milk, viz: con-
iinued heat OF 200 Fahrenheit for specified
time, did not produce sterilization for the reason
that. although the germs in the milk were
Killed by such a process, the spores were not
sterliZed. Mix cannot be steriliZed except by
cess had not been USED in some OF the brands Of
so-called condensed and steriliZed milk and
cream which have be examined.
CHARLES MCQUEsTEN, MD.
Accompanying it was a letter from Dr.
McQues;en, stating that his object in max
ing the report was to call the attention of
the board to food that " hen adulterated
is cause of disease.
DIR. McQuesten was thanked for his
efforts TO assist the board.
A second opinion from Attorney Knight
was presented on the question of register
ing birth certificates. He held that the
made by physicians, midwives or parents
within thirty days of the time Of birth.
The reason that Mr.. Knights advice
was asked was that recently great many
Chinese have been submitting for regis
tratlon birth certificates that should have
been presented long ago, hoping to estab-
llsh a residence in San francisco.
The opinion was referred to Health Off
Ger Keeney.