The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-07-07
FIGHT OF STATE
FOR PURE MILK
Circular Letter Issued Which
Outlines Statutes
Provisions.
is MUCH IMPURE MILK
MANY CASES OF SICKNESS ARE
CAUSED DIRECTLY FROM ITS
USE-CLEANLY DIARIES ARE
DEMANDED.

As president of the Indiana State
Health board, DR.. l. Henry Davis of
Richmond, has sent out circular let
tiers to authorities of every city and
town in the State, urging the impor-
lance of looking after the purity of
the milk supply. The circular in part
says:
The diarrhoeas and most of the in
testinal disorders from which people
suffer in the summer time are caused
by food poisous. These poisons, call
ed toxins, are elaborated by ferments,
which grow luxurlantly in hot wealth
er. Most ferments (microbes) pro-
duce harmless compounds in foods.
For instance, the Tactic ferment pro-
duces Tactic acid in milk. Tactic acid
is not harmful to health, but, on the
contrary, as found in buttermilk, it is
wholesome. 1t is the toxin producing
ferments we must fear The seeds of
such fermentS are everywhere, but
especially where uncleanliness exists.
simple eXpe riment will illustrate.
Many Milk Victims.
Place veal loaf or chicken salad,
n the most cleanly way, in a dirty
refrigerator and let them stay there
two or three days. They will become
poisonous nine times out of ten and
will cause intestinal pains, vomiting
and diarrhoea in nearly every one
who eats them. Milk collected in an
uncleanly manner and not immediate
ly cooled becomes poisonous. Milk
containing a small amount of toxins
will rarely make adults sick, but an
infant may be killed by it, and hun
dreds of infants are annually killed
in Indiana by dirty milk.
The majority of cases of cholera in
fantum are caused by milk poisOns,
and so are most of the infantile diar-
rhoeas. From these facts it is appar-
ent that the summer complaints" are
not mysterious viSitatiOnS of PrOvi-
dence, but are the result of our ignor-
ance or of our neglect to be practical
and to apply to everyday life the facts
discovered by science. 1t is enough
for science to discover truths, it is for
the people individually or through
public authorities to make them prac-
teal by using them. Therefore the
State Board of Health appeals to all
city and town governing authorities
to take the very sensible and econo-
mic step of regulating the milk supply
of their respective cities and towns to
the end that sickness and death caus-
ed by dirty milk may be prevented.
The State Board of Health is pre-
pared to analyze molk, water, foods,
drugs, etc, free of charge.
The dairy in which milk intended
for sale is placed and kept must be a
seperate and special apartment used
solely as a dairy. Such dairy shall
be at least twenty feet from any sta
BILE or pig-stye or any refuse heap.
1t is forbidden to deliver to con-
sumers milk over twentyfour hours
old, except in the case of milk which,
within eight hours after milking in
summer and twelve hours in winter,
has been sterilized at 220 degrees
| Fahrenheit.
1t is forbidden to take out of the
milkman's establishment:
| Amy skim milk even if only part
ly skinned, unless it be contained in
cans, jars or bottles bearing the in.
scription skim milk in letters not
| less than an inch in height:
Amy milk to which any foreign
substance has been added, especially
those called representatives."
3-Any milk not containing at least
SO per cent of butter and 9 per cent
of other solid elements or having a
proportion of water exceeding SO per
cent
Amy milk whose smell or flavor
betrays any focal contamination, and
the milk shall be delivered to the con
sumers in the same condition as it
was when it left the milkman's estab
| lishment, unless the change in the
condition of the milk consists solely
in it's pasteuriZation or sterilization by
heat in an intermediate ESTABLISHING Mt
between the producer and the consum
er, the installation and operation
thereof having been found suitable by
the health authorities of the place
where the milk is consumed