The Portland daily press., 1897-02-09

ordinary milk bacteria have been described
in literature up to the present time. Milk as
it exists in the udder of healthy COW. is
germ free, that is. 1t is practically sterile;
but the milk that comes to the consumer
contains q large number of living germs.
DR., Freeman OF New York, pathologist, to
Record, gave a practical demonstration of
the extent of this contamination. Three
Petrol plates, three and one half inches in
nutrient gelatine We're exposed for two min
utes each on a gentlemanS farm near New
York. One was exposed out of doors,
second in the barn, and a third under COW
Subsequent examination showed that the
plate exposed out of doors contained six
bacteria, while that exposed In the barn
and that exposed under the COW received
one thousand, eight hundred bacteria. Ii
the latter number Will fall from the belly OF
a COW during milking in circle three and
one half inches in diameter in two minutes,
one can easily appreciate the immense mum,
Der that will fall into an ordinary milk pail
during the whole period OF milking; and TINS
emphasizes the fact that the great secret OF
obtaining proper supply of milk, Is to
have healthy COW, and to keep that COW
clean.
Dr.. Freeman summarizes the diseases that
may be conveyed by milk IS first, those in
which the pathogenic micro organisms
which are introduced into the milk are con.
N-S~>~"~N-
tuberculosis, anthrax, and acute enter1t1s
Second, those in which the pathogenic micro
organisms are introduced into the milk
from some other source either during or
after milking, as cholera, typhoid fever, and
diphtberia Third, those caused by milk
which contains poisonous agents developed
by bacterial growth. -
Maine produces approximately : 5S, 900, 900
gallons of milk per year, and ma kes about
II 200, 900 pounds of butter, while New YORK
City alone consumes more,than seven mill
ions of gallons of milk every year. and the
produce of the United States is five billion
gallons annually. How much of this milk
contains "germs of death, may well chal-
lenge our attention and best efforts to sup
press. On
Dr. Gutman of Chicago reports, "In 80
specimens of milk inspected, in only one OF
them was it possible to demonstrate the
presence of the tubercle bacillus microscoP-
ically, but IN 3s injections of the same milk
in animals,-we had transmission by tubercu-
lOsis demonstrated six times.
Bollinger showed that pure culture OF
tubercle bacilli gives positive results IN IN
oculation experiments in a dilution OF one
to 400, 900; thus showing that the milk may
be infectious when the bacilH are so scant
as to be undiscoverable without an extreme
ly exhaustive examination.
DIR. Williams, NJ D., of Massachusetts says
81 have seen many cases OF tubercular dis
ease from milk, mostly in handled babies
of perfectly healthy parentage, developing
tables mesenterica, phthisis, and tuDercular
DR.. Hollock, NJ D.. of South Carolina,
writes of a case where strong, vigorous
child without a trace OF disease i'll its ances,
try, lost its mother at birth, and was sucked
by woman well advanced in pulmonary
consumption in opposition to his remon-
strances The child was ailing ever after,
case of tuberculosis being transmitted
through the milk OF the woman who nursed
the child.
ga well developed ffve-year-old boy from
sound parents whose ancestors on both
sides were free from hereditary faint, sue
cumbed, after few weeks illness, WIN WIN
enormously enlarged. mesenteric glands. A
short time before the family cow had been
killed and found to be the victim OF ad-
vaned pulmonary tuberculosis"
DR.. Demme, M. D., reports the case,of four
infants in the Child's Hospital at Berne,. the
issue of sound parents, without any tuber,
mesenteric tuberculosis as the result OF
feeding upon the unsteriliZed milk OF tuper-
culous cows.
While inspecting a herd of cattle few
years ago in Eastern Maine, had just given
an unguarded diagnosis of tuberculosis in a
fine looking Jersey COW, when woman. s
sharp voice rang out behind line haby GG has
been fedEon that cows milk, and although
the story was told the mother at the time,
that the COW proved sound, broken heart-
ed mother now knows that told her the
truth.
A Scotch family all of sturdy health, had a
herd of COWS which developed tuberculosis;
Two on hs sr hegr y%o godeT
being more fond of whiskey than OF milk,
are still living, healthy and hearty, while
victims Of tuberculosis. 1 also have in
mind the case of two young men whose MS
tory was free from phthisis raised upon 3
farm in Name where herd Of e eGwS pen
the farm and living largely upon milk; the
older coming to Portland and drinking the
more popular beverage of this seaport town.
The younger man long since died Of phthlsls
while the older both T is still with us, al
though just at pes in the "Keeley
A child four ysas "a; great grandson of
Henry Ward Bsse.l,t, recently died in New
York of tubercull. meningitis. There were
no hereditary tendencies to the disease
known The certainty that he had the dis
ease, and the inability to account for it from
human agencies led the physicians to sus-
peet the milk of two Alderney COWS on
which the child had been mainly fed. The
tuberculin tests and the postmortems showed
that both animals were tuberculous.
Dr. Stalker, of the Ohio Board OF Health,
writes ga fw days since, l made post
norton of a cow, the milk OF Which mao
been used to nourish an infant. The ch1ld
died, and the autopsy revealed in the clear.
est possible manner extensive tuberculosis. =
l know of q large herd of cows, in Maine,
several of which proved tuberculous. where
the owner kept a large watch dog constantly
in the barn and fed him with all the milk
he wanted That dog developed case of
MleSenL6rlG UuDeTculOSlS, anu bIlc PO5b-Iiol-
tenn showed almost every abdominal organ
affected. Swine, are also very freely infect
ed by the ingestion of milk, and our state
Commission have several times discovered
hogs that had been fed the skim milk OF
tuberculous herds or cattle, badly diseased.
A Vermont herd revealed seventy eight out
of ninety animals diseased by tuberculn
tests and many of the swine fed on the skim
milk from the dairy were found as tubercu-
Ious as the cows On another Vermont farm
where the disease was located, over sixty OF
the cows, over one hundred hogs, all the
chickens, the dogs and the family cat were
exterminated and all proved to be diseased
upon autopsy.
Edmund A. Parkes, the founder of modern
hygiene, man whose magnificent work has
startled us by its simplicity and yet com
pIeteness, and who has contributed more to
the saving of life than words can express,
defines hygiene as the art of preserving
he lth:
sit aims at rendering growth more perfect,
decay less rapid. life more vigorous, death
more remote;" and he tells us that if we had
perfect knowledge of the laws Of life, and
could practically apply this knowledge. in a
would be impossible. In dealing with this