OUR BABIES.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12479, 4 March 1909, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

By Htgeia,

•Published under the auspices of the Society for the promotion of the Health of Women and Children.

WHAT IS TOWN MILK ?

As we. showed last week, milk when received at home is a mixture of milk and microbes — the number of microbes increasing enormously with lack of attendance on the farm, slow and insufficient'cooling, delay in delivering,, and lack of care and cleanliness in -the home., . ■'; ,

■'' In some countries— in. Denmark, for instance— there are. companies which provide pure, practically germ-free milk, from special dairies — the milk being safeguarded at -every stage from milking to delivery; ;but in pur Dominion we cannot say that we have advanced much : beyond the stage, described some years ago by Professor Sedgwick, of Boston, as prevailing in America. Indeed, the attempt 'last season to improve our' milk supply is said to have cost the Minister of Agriculture liis seat. ■■'-■'■■ -~ ' . The following is quoted from Professor Sedgwick's "Principles of Sanitary Science and Public Health" :— ■' 'THE PROTECTION OF MILK SUPPLIES FROM POLLUTION;; "The milk supply industry is still to a great extent in a primitive condition. The ordinary dairy farmer, no matter how honest or well-meaning, often has not the smallest conception of the sanitary aspects of his art. It is exceedingly unfortunate that dirt in milk cannot readily be observed, and that the characteristic odour of milk masks to a great extent evidences of decomposition' which might otherwise be plain. What; is needed is a campaign produce milk, concerning, _ first, the simple protection/of a readily putres-cible-fluid.from pollution with dirt and other elements of decay j and, second, the sanitary protection of milk from infection. ,, It is no doubt a difficult matter to. make sure .that the hands and clothing of milkers shall be thoroughly clean; that the udder and teats shall : be washed, or at least he wiped thoroughly with a damp cloth, before the milking begins ; that the tail of the cow! shall no make even occasional excursions through the pail during the milking j that the cows shall be, like horses, groomed and kept clean, so that caked dung shall not cling to their flanks, to drop, with dandruff from their hides, into the pail ; that pails and cans and strainers shall be sterilised with steam or scalding water so thoroughly that yellowish, cheesy matter aEve with myriads of bacteria shall not fill the corners or cracks; but it is these simple items, indespensable to cleanliness, which, carefully attended to, .will not. only improve the milk from a santary point of view, but also prolong its life and keepr ing qualities, and thereby in the end richly reward the producer who is willlingto take pains. ' ■■■ - " "It should never be forgotten that it drinking water were to be drawn as milk is from the body of the cow standing in the. stable, by the hands of workmen, of questionable cleanness, and then stored and transported* over long distances- in imperfectly cleaned; closed cans ;,,being further manipulated, more or less, and finally left at the door at an uncertain hour of the day, pollution and staleness .would be.obyious. It is clear,.moreover, that milk few would care to drink it, because its requires iind deserves even, more earefuT treatment than water, for it is more valuable, more trusted and more readily falsified or decomposed. JNeverthe less/until very lately,- milk, # while legally protected from dilution by water, has received little or no attention from boards of health on the simple question of pollution.".