Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/78

74 99 per cent, of all bacteria and makes the milk safe. Especially is pasteurization desirable when there is danger of disease germs entering the milk. Such disease germs may enter from the hands or clothes of employees in the dairy, also in certain cases from diseased cows. Pasteurization has many advocates and many opponents. Without going into a detailed discussion of the arguments, it may be stated that the process is gaining favor with sanitarians and recent scientific research has shown that the disadvantages claimed against pasteurization are groundless. Epidemics of typhoid fever, of dysentery, of diphtheria, of

scarlet fever have been spread by milk in many instances and we know with certainty that the germs causing these diseases are surely killed by efficient pasteurization. It remains with boards of health to control pasteurization, so as to insure its efficiency. For this purpose the milk should be examined before and after pasteurization. If the milk is obtained from careless producers, it should not be permitted to be used under any conditions. If the producer can show fair conditions the milk should be pasteurized.

If, however, milk is produced with the refinements outlined above, pasteurization becomes superfluous. Many dairies produce milk with less than 10,000 bacteria per cubic centimeter, some as low as 1,000. By extreme care and intelligent supervision such milk is not much more expensive than ordinary market milk and the outcome of the war waged against poor milk supplies will probably bring such milk within the reach of every one. This milk is generally known as certified milk, because it is certified to by a body of responsible medical men, who employ experts to examine the-milk at stated intervals and inspect the