The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-24
Should Milk Supply
of City be Tested?

Nothing can protect US from bo-
vine tuberculosis except the thorough
and regular use of the tuberculin
test" said a local authority when in
terviewed on the question.
TT is of the greatest importance to
maintain the most perfect sanitary
conditions about dairy, of course,
but that will not prevent tuberculosis
infection in the herd or keep the tu-
bercle bacilli out of the milk The
better cows are kept, strange to say,
the more liable they are to infection
and when once infected, il is almost
impossible to free their products from
the bacilli or poisons produced by the
bacilli. II is another case where one
ounce of prevention is worth pound
of cure"
Only Safe Method.
Mr.. B. f. Powell, of the University
of Illinois, emphasizes the futility of
attempting TO detect infected COWS by
any other method
Undoubtedly a large percentage of
the sleek-looking dairy COWS we see
are tuberculous in one form or an
other"
For peculiar reasons" this expert
goes on to say, the worst affected
COW is often the healthiest in appear
ance. Therefore any attempt to Sc
lect the tuberculos of the herd by
external examination is condemned to
failure"
Nor Is pasturiZation of infected milk
reliable according to federal author
ity, Jos. w. SChereschewsky of the
public health and marine hospital serv-
ice. who says
'Pasteurization is insufficient for
complete sterilization of milk"
Rosenaus' View.
And Prof. Milton J. Rosenau, form
erly of the same department but now
of Harvard University, says:
"Pasteurized milk must be handled
as carefully as raw milk, if not more
so. Pathogenic bacteria grow more
readily in heated than in raw milk
The 'germicidal' properties of milk
are destroyed by high heating, and fin
ally the surviving bacteria do not
have so hard a struggle for existence
in the heated milk. 1t must not be
forgotten that pasteurization kills
only the major portion of the mons
pore-bearing bacteria, and that a large
number of heterogeneous remain
and, if permitted to grow and multi
ply, they may occasionally produce
undesirable qualities or perhaps pois-
onous properties in the milk"
Pasteurization is method of
sterilizating milk by a hetating pro-
cess in which the fluid is raised to a
temperature of 40 degrees and kept
there for twenty minutes. Precautions
must be taken to insure complete and
rapid cooling afterwards or the pro-
vii
cause of the technical skill required
for perfect pasteuriZation it is seldom
used properly. In many cases the milk
ting the bacteria unusual facilities for
growth.
Danger in Milk.
Some germs of the most virulent
type are sometimes not destroyed at
all Among these is the bovine tu-
bercle bacillus. And this bacillus pro-
pagates so rapidly that one or two
left alive will repopulate a quantity
of milk in a few hours.
"Pasteurization should always be
used a precaution against tubercle in
fection," says one authority, but it
is by no means infallible and should
not be entirely depended upon. The
tuberculin test is the only safe
means"
Neither is a mere laboratory an
alysis of milk and feces satisfactory,
according to DR.. Mohler; only 40 per-
cent. of tuberculosis COWS will expell
bacilli so as to be detected in that
manner.
koch's Discovery.
Tuberculin was invented by Prof.
Koch, of Germany, in 1890 1t is a
prepared glycerin in which quantities
of living bacilli have been "stewed"
and then strained out. The liquid is
then thoroughly sterilized and placed