Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-21

The remarkable testimony invoked to
prevent tho conviction of n dealer
in milk containing 4s,0OO,OOO bac-
tcria per cubic centimeter indicates
to public health authorities the ne
ccssity of organizing all the scien-
Iflc forces available in order to
meet the highly organized defense
which large milk concerns have con-
sti1Ictcd around stale, dirty and dis
ease-sprcading milk, tho commercial
value of which seems to be greater
than milk known to be pure, clean
and safe.
DIR. Lee H. Maynard's testimony In
the Gregg milk case included the fol-
lowing:
THE presence of 4S,0OO,0OO bacteria
dicate that such milk is decomposed or
filthy. The presence of $1,000 B. coli
does not indicate contamination with
animal excrement. There is hardly a
dairyman in the country who is not on
to the trick Of straining out all visible
dirt"
Maynard admitted he was hired by
the milk dealers.
Professor Samuel T. Prescott's testi-
mony included the following:
II could not say that milk was dirty
unless l could actually see the dirt. !
would not call milk filthy unless 1t
smelled SO and tasted SO. and unless
"eio NlSlDlC COW 1ldHuTt ana
other dirt to be seen in it with the
naked eye.
The presence of B. coli in milk does
not indicate contamination with fecal
matter. All certified milk ever pro-
duced contains 3 coli. You cannot say
that milk containing 100000 bac-
terra per cubic centimeter either de-
1T is impossible to tell anything
about the presence of putrefying or
ganisms in this. milk from the strep-
tococci and B. coli found in it,"
After admitting that If the COW is
dirty with manure and the mixers
hands filthy there will be larger num-
bers of bacteria in the milk. he de-
clared that the presence of bacteria
meant nothing.
On cross examination he confessed
he was working on the side for milk
dealers and that in spite of the fact
that he was defending milk containing
$4,000 ,000 bacteria, the bacteria limit
in Boston. his own city, was 100000 in
ordinary milk and 10000 in certified
milk.
Professor P. G. Heinemann's testi-
mony included the following:
Milk containing 4S,o00.0Oo bacteria
is not decomposed or filthy. You can
tell filthy milk only by looking at it,
SIN telling it and tasting it. I am not a
but I would not object to
using milk containing over 100000
bacteria or any number of B. coli for
infants. Infants milk ought to be
boiled to kill the germs and make it
more digestible. Milk cannot be pro-
duced without filth in it,
Heinemann's testimony was to the
effect that there is, and can be, no use
for certified milk for infants when any
old kind of boiled milk is cheaper and
more digestble.
I'm my private work for milk deal
ers I never make any tests for p. coli,
because their presence in milk has no
Any attempt to regulate
the number of bacteria in milk is
Professor John Gordan's testimony
included the following:
archaeological tests of milk are of
no value. The farmer strains all the
dirt out of his milk. Milk containing
As, ,000,00 bacteria is very good milk.
archaeological examinations are mis-
leading and B. coli are not an index of
1t does health boards no
good to know anything about the pres
ence of bacteria in milk"
He admitted he worked for the milk
dealers.
DIR. John A. O'Donoghues testimony
included the following:
THE presence of bacteria in milk in