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13
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
The sanitary condition and water supply of the 4 elementary
schools in the district were good throughout the year.
No school was closed by reason of infectious diseases during
the year.
. FOOD.
Milk :—Milk is of all foods the most important in that it
contains the whole of the chemical constituents of man's
'liet, viz., protein, carbohydate, fat and mineral salts; and
these in forms most easy of digestion. It is the only proper
food of very young children, and of adults when suffering
from various diseases. It is a highly delicate compound; an
excellent medium for the growth of bacteria, many of which
rapidly decompose it; and a most efficient vehicle of certain
infectious diseases. In England to-day the production oi
milk on the dairy farm, its transport to the towns, its distribution
to the consumer, and its treatment in the home of the
consumer prior to use, are all far from ideal, especially in the
matter of cleanliness. In a word1 the bulk of the milk on the
market is dirty and much of it old. It is only too frequently
drawn from dirty cows by dirty hands into dirty vessels and
finally taken into dirty homes where it is further contaminated.
A milk churn or milk can may appear to the ordinary
observer quite clean and yet contain bacteria which in a few
hours, in warm weather, will wholly destroy the milk.
Everybody should be interested in the problem of clean milk
and insist on obtaining it. This Is not a matter for the
medical officer of health and public health committee only,
but for every member of the community. The production
and distribution of clean milk is a business requiring on the
part of the workers some education in the life histories of
certain germs and the constant application of this knowledge
at every step in the work from the first appearance of the
milk on the farm to its consumption in the home. And withal
in the hands of the right kind of teacher I know of no more
fascinating or absorbing subject for study.
Any boy or girl of average intelligence in the leaving
class of the elementary school could follow, and follow with
intense enjoyment, a simple demonstration of the action of
certain types of bacteria on milk, the important role played
by temperature, time, etc., etc. Education rather than legislation
is the one thing needful in this matter. Only when
the public understand the meaning of clean milk will they
demand it, and only then will the milk dealer supply it.