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udders groomed and milked by clean hands into sterile pails, and
all the subsequent processes carried out with a rigid regard to cleanliness.
This is, of course, the counsel of perfection, and probably
these conditions will some day be accomplished facts, but in order
to meet circumstances as they exist, various methods have been
adopted by sanitary authorities and others.
The question of sterilization and pasteurization has been much
discussed of late, both in the medical and lay Press, and the ex
perience of those who have tried these methods have been recorded.
But the process, as carried out by sanitary authorities, means much
more than the mere treatment of the milk. If nothing else be
done to the milk but heating it, the same results could be obtained
by the use of condensed milk. But the practice of using condensed
milk should not be countenanced. It has been pointed out that
one of the characteristics of human milk is its high percentage of
fat. This fat serves as a fuel and maintains the body heat of the
child, and if the percentage is reduced there is a liability of the
child to catarrhs of the lungs and bowels. It is true of most of
the condensed milks on the market, if the directions for dilution
are carried out, there is a large deficit of fat in the prepared mixture.
Drs. Park and Holt, of New York, found that children fed on condensed
milk, though often apparently in good condition, when
attacked with acute disease, offered but little resistence, and
seemed to succumb more quickly than any other class of patients.
Fuller knowledge will probably reveal further serious disadvantages
of patent foods and condensed milk.
Nor is condensed milk a "safe" food during the diarrhoea
season. Although it may be sterile on opening, a tin usually
lasts two or three days, and during that time it is open to contamination
in the house.
The avoidance of contamination in the house is one of the
features of the schemes for the supply of sterilized milk. The milk
may be sterilized by simply boiling it, that is, the milk may be
raised to a temperature of 212 F° and kept at that temperature