The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-10-15
THE DAIRY
The Initial Contamination of Milk.

than the saving of an adult life, tOr
the reason that under normal condl-
tions the usefulness to the world ana
the earning capacity is greater In the
normal life of the first one than IN
the latter one, the latter having al
ready lived up part OF his usefulness
to the world. 1t has often been stated
on pretty good authority that great
percentage of infant mortality is due
to digestive disturbances. II this is
true, and without question 1t is, then
two things become of vast importance
the food given to infants and the
conditions governing the giving OF the
food. The latter phase, the condltlons
governing the feeding of infants ana
Young children, | shall not discuss.
|. however, wish to give consideration
to the first one, the food given 10 In
fants and children, and indeed, spe-
cial food, milk. At some distant tlme
in the past the food received by tne
infant was, of course, the milk IL re-
ceiyed from it's mothers breast. Inc
condition has, from various causes,
become impossible in many, many IN
stances and gradually the responsible
ity of furnishing this nourlshment Ior
the young human being has been trans
ferred from it's mother, who naturally
should do so, to some one OF the low
or forms of mammals, such as the COW,
goat. mare or ass, and in the most
Darts of the world selection and elm
nation has, at the present time, placed
upon the dairy COW the burden OF re-
sponsibility of furnishing for millions
of infants a food similar to that Wnlcn
no tura intended it to have.
This food milk, when obtained from
the COW and furnished to children
should in composition and temperd-
ture be as nearly like that Wnlch
would be furnished by healthy motn-
err. Relative to composition, the chem-
ical elements should correspond as
nearly as possible to human milk ana
it should not contain any foreign SUD
stance. 1t is the presence Oh tnls lot
eign substance which changes the milk
from a wholesome and sale 1000 INTO
a deleterious and dangerous one. For
eign substances are either OF chemical
or vegetable origin. Chemical sub
stances are generally, if not always
placed in the milk willfully and GRIM
inally, to cover some defect III IT,
Foreign substances of vegetable orl-
gin are allowed to gain access to the
milk through ignorance or crlmlnal
carelessness. This latter is a source
of all the trouble of furnishing
wholesome and clearly food to infants,
or in other words, a wholesome and
Clearly milk supply to the public. IL
this could possibly be obtained, the
first condition of willfully and Grim
inally adding chemicals to the milk
supply would be an unknown neces-
sity
How is this to be done? Milk from
a. healthy COW is absolutely sterile
when secreted and is practically ster-
lie when drawn from the udder. Any
contamination that may have taken
place has occurred through the open
ing of the teat If the milk, there
fore. is nearly perfect when drawn
from the COW, and milk for food for
young infants and young children and
adults has to be in such practically
perfect condition at the time OF con-
sumption if it is to be wholesome for
the consumer of it, then it becomes the
duty of the producer and the duty OF
the housekeeper, to use such precau-
tons in the production and keeping
of the milk that will insure its being
as nearly like freshly drawn milk as
possible, at the time it is to be used,
and neither one of them can escape
the responsibility and duty which each
one must share alike. All contamina-
ton of vegetable origin comes from
what we commonly know as dirt
Therefore, contamination will be in di-
rect proportion to the dirt present and
allowed to gain access to the milk
This dirt is composed of dead and liv-
ing vegetable matter, the dead not be-
oo tho Iiuipo matter