The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-10-17
HEALTH BULLETIN
CITY OF ELY
by OWEN w, PARKER. M. D..
Health Commissioner
CITY OF ELY

DIR. Gutschenritter of Virginia,
Minnesota, veterinary surgeon, who
has had considerable experience in
speeding diaries of the Range towns
was recently appointed to carry out
the usual inspection of the diaries
for the city of Ely and vicinity.
So far as the dairy man is con-
|cerned the work is intended to be
educational and helpful and in no
way destructive or antagonistic to
his interests. So far as consumers
are concerned the work is intended
to assist in safeguarding their health.
Early this spring the tuberculin test
was applied to about 800 cattle in
Ely for tuberculosis. Only two
reactero were found. They were
both slaughtered under government
inspection.
There is direct relation between
milk-supply and the health of the
people of a community. Milk may
contain disease germs when it is
drawn from a diseased COW. Disease
germs may be introduced into it by
unhealthy workmen or from unclean
containers; and the ordinary changes
which milk undergoes may render it
unwholesome.
The changes are produced prin-
cipally by bacteria which enter the
milk after it has been drawn from
the cow, and which multiply in the
milk. Their source is ordinary dust
and dirt from the cows, stables and
workmen, utensils. and milk rooms.
Cleanliness is the principal con-
dition on which the wholesomeness
of milk depends. Milk which is per-
|fectly clean contains few bacteria,
and will undergo changes so slowly
that it may be marketed and kept
for reasonable length of time be-
fore undesirable changes occur. The
most reliable test for the wholesome
ness of milk is the number of bac-
terra in each cubic centimeter. Milk
of fair quality may contain 100000
bacteria, and milk of poor quality,
several millions per cubic centimeter.
Milk is seldom so dirty that it con-
|tains millions of bacteria for some
hours after it has been drawn from
the cow. The greatest number Of
bacteria in the poorer grades of milk
consist of the organisms which have
multiplied from those which were
Originally in it.
Line small kitchen funnel with
layer of absorbent cotton about
Is inch thisk, and pour the contents
of milk bottle through it. Every
particle of dirt will be clearly visi-
BILE on the white cotton. There is
one form of sediment tester in which
the milk is strained through prepared
disks of cotton which may be pre-
served as record of the cleanliness
of the milk. A sediment tester has
considerable educational value in
demonstrating dirt in milk to farm
ers and dairy men. A bacterial ex-
animation of milk is usually made
to determine the number Of bacteria,
regardless of their kind. The exam
nation consists either in making cul-
lures from the milk and counting the
colonies which develop; or in max
ling a smear of the undiluted milk
and counting the individual bacteria.
The bacteria that are usually found
i'm milk may be divided into four
groups; 1, those producing Tactic
acid; 2, those of fermentation and
decay; 8, those of human diseases;
A, those that are inert. Bacteria
which produce Tactic acid are the
cause of the souring Of milk. Fresh
milk is only family acid.
Unpleasant odors and tastes in
milk may be due to the food Of the
cows, or to gases absorbed from sub
stances stored near the milk; but
some of them are caused by the or
binary bacteria of dust and dirt, and
of the soil and air. They consist
largely of those fermentation and
decay which multiply many fold in
milk and produce a series of changes
which would finally result in the de-
composition and putrefaction Of the
milk if they should be allowed to con-
tinue These bacteria and the sub
stances which they produce are un-
wholesome and often poisonous, es-
pecially for babies. They may cause
summer diarrhea in infants. Some
milder forms Of the sickness seem
to be the result of bacterial growth.
/ Disease germs reach the milk by
means of the hands of those who
handle milk, of workmen coughing
or sneezing over the milk, or Of pol