New-York tribune., 1906-07-15
A NEW BUSINESS.
The Germ Hunter Is NO5C Added
to Long List.

The professional germ hunter is the latest
conner among industrial scientists. 1t is his
business to drive from cover all the mischievous
microbes that worry folks so nowadays and tell
the anxious layman how they may be kept out
of their favorite lurking places. And he is not
only a pUrveyOr of the accumulated knowledge
of the ages, but an investigator and expert
menter in fields the pure scientist has no
occasion to enter.
The success already made by the biochemicaI
laboratory-the first in the country-recently
opened by Professor S. c. Prescott of the Mas
sachusetts Institute Of Technology, reveals a
new field for the man OF modern scientific train
ing. 1t is predicted that it Will not be long
before every city IN the country will be provided
with one of these new-fangled laboratories and
that the industrial biologist WIFI, in the near
future be as important a person in his way
as the industrial chemist already is
The problems that brought to Professor
Prescott's Investigators are intensely interest
ing and intensely practical. For instance, a
large milk contractor, serving hundreds Of pa
irons in the city. is anxious to know the exact
condition of his supply, which he buys from two
hundred more dairies and farms scattered
about ew-England. Not only is It good busi-
ness for him to make he Is giving his
patrons only what Is pure and wholesome but
by their searching inspection methods, boards OF
health and local authorities generally are lead
ing dealers in all manner OF household supplies
TO have closer regard for the quality of what
they sell than used to be thought necessary
The Board OF Health inspectors have such
enormous quantities OF this that and the other
to look into that. naturally. they cannot keep
the daily supervision over every shipment that
comes into market. The milkman cannot depend
on them TO be posted to how well his farmers
and dairymen are living up to their contracts
all the time. So he engages the Industrial BIZ
ologist TO examine his supply for him. find Just
how near the standard that part OF it furnished
by each producer IS. and recommend any meas
urss that VIII improve the quality and thereby
help his trade. The biologists work goes be-
yOnd mere laboratory examination OF samples.
lie visits each dairy; observes the methods it
employs. notes its degree OF cleanliness and the
way II cares for its cattle. its cans and its
buildings: tests the water supply and pasturage
for both Of these known to have no little
effect on the quality OF milk: and reports that
the remedy for the deficiency lies In the hands
OF the veterinary. the sanitary engineer or the
farmer and his helpers. as the case may be.
Ailk has been so much talked about as a con-
geyor Of germs that people are more uartic-
ular about milk than any other kind OF food.
probably. Yet the ice dealer is in position nor
very different from that Of the milk contracfor
He buys from the owners OF score OF different
lakes and ponds: he cannot have DersonaI
knowledge OF the condition OF each little stretch
of water from which the harvest is cut: vet ~
there IS anything unwholesome in the ice he
sells his customers are quick to place the blame
him. For him the industrial biologist nuts
samples OF ice from each supply pond to the
tests for water purity, and examines the sourca
OF supply itself. from the point OF view OF tho