Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1921-03-04
COMMUNICATION
New York, Mar. /, 1921

three hospitals ana consulting SpeCldl-
list at another, there are days when |
have under my care over thirty artih-
cially fed infants. For many years |
have been a fighting foe Of the mutila-
ton of milk, such as sterilization and
pasteurization, and in consequence
dealing only with raw, clean milk, l
think, l know something about it.
Koch the great bacteriologist always
maintained that the transmission of
bovine tuberculosis through cows milk
was an impossibility; Won Behring did
not agree with him For a long time
this controversy has ragged pro and con,
and is today unsettled.
Now l am having the greatest sue
cess with milk sold in this city. Where
it comes from, how long on the way,
and how handled except in selected in
stances, l know not, but it is by no
means fresh milk How the milk from
a dairy farm, clean, well kept, from
tuberculin tested cattle, milk properly
chilled and handled, and retailed to
the consumer soon after milking can
transmit bovine tuberculosis or cause
ptomaine poisoning, is beyond the tales
of MunChausen. Assuming that one
COW is affected, that she has a tubercu-
lous udder, and authorities agree that
only COW in the last stages of the
disease, or one with an extremely tu
berculous udder can transmit disease,
and can infect a child of Is months, an
unlikely age to be directly infected,
by the way, for healthy child, the
amount of milk which the patient
would consume from the whole guam
tity of milk from that COW would be
little. and the number of bacilli in con-
sequence would be few in number And
multiply that by the quantity of milk
from clean herd, and how many bac-
terra in the short time that the child
took of the given milk would be pres
ent in that milk? Another piece of
nonsensical absurdity is the fixing Of
the time of invasion. Epidemics can
be and have been traced to an infected
non-tuberculin tested herd, but that
one child should be infected, and all
the rest of the milk-fed children go
free is. it must be admitted most I'M
common occurrence, and one probably
never recorded in medical literature.
In all my experience | have been able
to possibly trace the source of infec-
ton of human but never Of bovine tu
bercular infection, in but one child
from floor and wall contagion where a
previous tenant had died from the di-
sease. SO interested was | in this cur
ious and quite ignorant and uncalled
for accusation that | spent some time
in the library and the abstracts here
under recorded are quoted word for
word
DISEASES OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN,
Dr. J. p. Grocer Griffith
VOL /, page '44
The preponderance OF evidence at the pres
cn time seems to indicate that injection with the
bovine bacillus contained in the milk from
tuberculous cattle is a possibility but compare
lively nfrequent and that the danger is much
l,errated Cattle which react to tuberculin but
~yeal no tubercuous foci usually have no ba-
,l in their milk.
More i, to be feared from the contamination
u co" MIX by lhe "uHld" p'''"uN WIN"
may enter it from the air just as they may
-ontaminate any other article which enters the
infants mouth
DEPT. OF AGRlCClIlR E BULLET IN
Washington Special report, Diseases OF
Cattle 1910 page AZ.
"A large proportion OF the ANIMALS Whl'h are
slightly ahe''ed yleld 'aI'aS,' ""''H ''e per
Iec'ly wholesome ana mt 'oT nu"I" 'oop .,
Some incline to me oe'ie' 'n'' ."e "''N
'ecre'ed by healthy uddeTS Is never infectious
even when the lungs and o'her organs are al
feced; that IN other words the 'uOeII'e
bacili are rarely II ever separated from tie
LESSONS which they produce ana 'na' 'ne uuuei
itself must be diseased before 'uoerce oa'''''
can appear in the mix
On Page as
1.-THE tubereuln test which Is ma''e'ou'! ''-
oure in its indication
On Page Al
AS result OF this method iuoef'u'ln ued',
menU an accurate diagnosis may be established
in more than 81 per cent OF the cases treated
On Page 4lS-concerning the tubereulln tests
The results OF thousands OF tests sho" mat
in less than per cent OF the cases tested 90
failures actually occur
MILK, Paul G. Heineman' Phi. c. l9l9 page
AS
"Tubercle bacteria are not as a rule present