Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-16
Views of Philadelphia Physician.

..Dr. David L. Edsall of Philadelphia.
who has made an exhaustive study OF
the milk problem in hospitals. says OF
raw milk as source of aggravatlng
diseases as follows:
.It is evident that patients are not
properly treated unless this source OF dan
ger is put aside" and he cites instances
whese m immediate reduction in the con-
d.tions and Of typhoid mortality in nos
pital was brought about by the pasteurlZ-
alton of milk.
THAT the danger from raw or 1mprop-
erly pasteurZed cream is even greater
than from milk lies in the fact at the
ri,lh top milk or the cream separated from
milk contains about 80 per cent OF the
total bacteria, although constituting oniy
about one-twent.eth OF the voiume oi Tue
whole milk.
"Since 1t became known that these
studies were being made coupe OF our
hospitals have taken steps for remeoyins
matters, but we believe that hosi'i ni;
short of proper pasteuriZat1on OF all
doubtful milk and cream will ever &C
complish a material reduction In the gen
eraI death rate. We are urging the neces-
sity of municipal control over al pas
teuriza ton plants so that people may not
be lured into false security by the mere
word 'pasteurized' when 1t refers 10 an
imperfect process which may be worse
than no process at all.
Endorsed by Government Scientists.
I'm this opinion we are backed up by
the able scientists of the natlonal gov
eminent. both from the Agricultural De-
partment and the surgeon generals Of
flee.
When water contains large numbers OF
ha cteria it will appear cloudy. Moreover,
bacteria will but slowly multiply IN Or
binary drinking water because there IS
little nourishment for the bacteria to reed
on and multiply, But milk, on account OF
its apauueness, readily conceals the pres
ence of even myriads of them. This
danger is increased by the fact that az
ordinary temperature, and because mix
offers a fine supply of nourishment, the
bacteria increase at a most amazing rate,
and this increase, for instance, is approx
mately seventy times greater at tenn
nerature of sixtw degrees F. than at fifty
This explains the high infantile NOR
talitv in summer time among children
fed on raw improperly pasteurlzed
milk. which has been permitted to warm
up in transit and in handling. And the
number of patients of all classes who an
palIy succumb because in their weakened
state they fall ready victims to raw milk
bacteria can only IL surmised.'
In Progress Twenty Years.
The campaign against the high death
rate due to typhoid fever in Washington
began twenty years ago. DR.. kober fired
the first guns when he addressed the in
ternational medical congress at Berlin
and discussed typhoid fever in the Dis
trict in, relation to the water supply In
1894 a cholera scare swept the country
and there was a general cleaning up in
all the cities. In Washington the public
was educated by the Sanitary League.
The water supply was made the subject
of attack and then the milk supply.
a milk law was enacted and the con-
ditions were generally improved because
Of the power which was given the health
office TO look to the milk and to see that
the dairymen kept their places clean and
1905 the filter plant which had been
building for some time. was put into
operation. The city was then supplied
with purer water than We're nearly all
the other cities. but still the high death
rate from typhoid continued.
Physicians here determined that since
the water supply had been purified the
means, and investigation showed them
that ii was the milk.
Investigation of Water Supply. !
In 1905 the Secretary of Agriculture
supplies of the dairymen In Virginia and
Maryland from milk which was pur-
chased to be used in the District 1t
was found that ID per cent of the wells
and other supplies of water used by these
farmers and dairymen were contaminat-
ed, % per cent were suspicious and only
- per cent were pure. Cans washed
with this water were contaminated and
| the germs quickly spread To the milk