1868-9.] CITY DOCUMENT. [No. 37 A COM MUNICAT I ON ON THE ADULTERATION OF MILK, By EDWIN M. SNOW, M. D., SUPERINTENDENT OF HEALTH, I WITH A REPORT OF EXAMINATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS MADE BY OLIVER C. WIGGIN, M. I). Presented to the Board of Aidermen, February 23, 1869. PROVIDENCE: HAMMOND, ANGELL & CO., PRINTERS TO THE CITY 1869. 1868-9.] CITY DOCUMENT. [No. 37. A COMMUNICATION ON THE ADULTERATION OF MILK, By EDWIN M. SNOW, M.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF HEALTH, WITH A REPORT OF EXAMINATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS MADE BY OLIVER C. WIGGIN, M. D. Presented to the Board of Aidermen, February 23, 1869. PROVIDENCE: HAMMOND, ANGEI7L & CO., PRINTERS TO THE CITY. 1869. THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE. In Board of Aldermen, February 23, 1869. A communication from the Superintendent of Health, with a memorial of Doctor Oliver C. Wiggin, relating to the adulteration of the milk sold in this city, is presented and read; whereupon, it is Ordered, That the same be received, and that five hundred copies thereof be printed in book form for the use of the Board of Aidermen. Witness: SAMUEL W. BROWN, Clerk. COMMUNICATION. Office of the Superintendent of Health, j Providence, February 23, 1869. j To the Honorable the Board of Aldermen. Gentlemen:- I enclose, for your consideration, a communication from Dr. Oliver C. Wiggin, of this city, in relation to the adulteration of milk as practiced here. I have, for a long time, intended to call your attention to this subject; but have delayed for the want of accurate information. I was therefore glad to learn that Dr. Wiggin had given attention to it, and requested him to prepare a paper upon it. The attention of Dr. Wiggin was called to the subject, in the way of his profession, by noticing the extremely poor quality of the milk used, especially among the poorer classes of the population. He thinks, and I have no doubt of the fact, that the lives of a considerable number of children are sacri- ficed, every year, in this city, by the use of adulterated milk. The children are actually starved to death, because the milk they use has so much water in it that it will not nourish them, 4 CITY OF PROVIDENCE. nor even support life. This dilution of the milk falls with especial severity upon the poor, as is shown in the paper of Dr. Wiggin. But there is another view of this question, which is impor- tant to all classes. There are at least 12,700 families in this city who use milk. In this number are included hotels, large boarding houses and public institutions, each of which is reck- oned only as one family, and all of which use large quantities of milk. Besides this, there are eating saloons, and other places, which use considerable milk, and which are not reckoned in the number of families. It is safe, then, to estimate that 15,000 quarts of milk are used daily in this city. This is equal to 5,475,000 quarts in a year of 365 days. On an average, this milk costs the consumers eight cents per quart, and the whole cost is $1,200 each day, or $438,000 each year. These estimates are considerably less than similar estimates made in Boston. As to the amount of adulteration of milk in this city, it would require more extended investigation to speak with certainty. It seems probable, both from the investigations of Dr. Wiggin and from the reports of the Inspector of Milk in Boston, that nearly all the adulteration of milk is by the addition of water, though the quality of the milk is often much injured by skim- ming. If we take the proportion of water actually found in the specimens examined by Dr. Wiggin, and make allowance for the injury by skimming, it is a low estimate to say that the milk sold in this city is adulterated to the extent of ten per cent.:-that is, our citizens who buy 15,000 quarts of milk daily, are buying at least 1,500 quarts of water daily, at eight cents per quart. This is equal to $120 per day, or $43,800 per year. It is evident that the money view of this question is not en- tirely without importance. The inevitable conclusion, in my mind, is, that the subject needs the attention of the city government: that the interests of health, and the protection of poor children from suffering and starvation demand it; and the protection of our citizens, who are daily swindled by purchasing water at eight cents per ADULTERATION OF MILK. 5 quart, demands it. It is a subject that is important to every family, as all use milk. There is an act of the General Assembly, passed February 19, 1867, which imposes a severe penalty for selling, or offer- nig for sale, as principal, servant, or agent, any milk to which water, or any foreign substance has been added. This law is, of course, almost entirely useless, without the special appoint- ment of some person to enforce it, and the act itself author- izes the appointment of inspectors for this purpose, by town and city councils. I would most earnestly urge the City Council to take action upon the subject; and w'ould suggest that the paper from Dr Wiggin be printed in pamphlet form, and be referred to a committee, with instructions to report the legislation necessary upon the subject, at the next meeting of the City Council. Respectfully, EDWIN M. SNOW/ Superintendent of Health. REPORT. Providence, February 19th, 1869. Dr. E. M. Snow, Superintendent of Health :- Dear Sir,-In reply to your note requesting me to give you an account of my recent examinations of milk, with such com- ments as I may choose to make, I am happy to furnish you with the following statement. I must say, to begin with, that my inspections were prose- cuted solely for the purpose of confirming my own suspicions as to the adulteration of milk in our city. I have heard very general complaints of poor milk, particularly among the poorer classes of our citizens. Almost every one, dependent upon the stores for milk, either in whole or in part, seems to take it for granted, that he must be served with an impure article. And certainly, every physician must be aware, from his expe- rience in the nursery, that " store milk " is simply synonymous with adulterated milk. I have not attempted, in any case, more than a proximate analysis, though Professor Appleton kindly offered me every facility in the College Laboratory, for carrying out a full chemical analysis. An exhaustive chemical analysis involves a great expenditure of time and means. Even a proximate analy- sis of any specimen, requires two days time. A few facts, such as the specific gravity, the percentage of cream, of water, of solid matter, of added water, and the microscopical appear- ances, are sufficient for all practical purposes. 8 CITY OF PROVIDENCE. Since taking this matter into consideration, none of the worst specimens, such as I have seen from time to time in the glasses of the poor, have happened to come within my notice. So I shall be unable to give you any of the much-talked-of chalk, or much starch ; but I can furnish you, usque ad p.au~ seum, water, and sand, and infusum pedis bonis, and other amorphous deposits, the true nature of which I have not taken the pains to investigate. The method of impoverishing milk, as generally practiced in this vicinity, consists in removing the cream and adding water. I have found no chalk, nor starch, except a trace, in one or two specimens. This was corn starch, and the quantity was so small, its presence was probably accidental. I doubt if any one would be so stupid as to adul- terate milk with substances so easily detected as chalk and starch, even were he depraved enough. In a few instances the odor has been offensively putrid and bovine. In the summer the odor is generally unwholesome. One case came to my notice where a whole family was nauseated from drinking milk, the younger members even to vomiting. A storekeeper tells me that in pouring milk for a customer one mornino-, a little minnow floated from his can. Milk varies so much in nature it is impossible to establish any fixed rules for regulating the quality. Every dairyman knows that the quality of his milk varies according to the qual- ity and quantity of his feed, the health of his stock, the season of the year, the breed of cows, the time from calf, &c. Still, there is a mean from which the quality should not vary much. At this season of the year, I believe the average specific gravity of milk, from any dairy, should not be lower than 1030. Actual experiments, made at some of the largest farms in the neighborhood of our city, confirm me in this belief. There may be one cow or more in every dairy, which will give milk of lower specific gravity than this, but a larger number will run higher. A very large percentage of cream lowers the specific gravity, while its removal raises it. The following figures show the specific gravity of milk from nine cows, as I took it in the order in which they were milked, ADULTERATION OF MILK. 9 -1031, 1030, 1030, 1032, 1031, 1032, 1030, 1032, 1031. Average, 1031. The average of a dairy of fifteen cows gave a specific gravity of 1030. The average of another dairy of sixteen cows gave 1033. And so on. All the specimens I have taken from farmers' wagons on the street give nearly the same results. The following table shows the specific gravity, with the ad- dition of different quantities of water, as determined by experi- ment. Original specific gravity - - - - 1030 9 milk and 1 water _ - _ 1027 8 " " 2 " _ _ _ _ 1024 7 " " 3 1021 6 " " 4 1018 5 " " 5 " _ _ - 1015 If, now, I obtain milk with a specific gravity of 1020, as I have done, what is the inference ? Obviously that I get 33.33 per cent, of water. If besides this the cream be wholly re- moved the matter is worse still. The percentage of cream, varies, of course, in accordance with the conditions mentioned above. The lowest percentage of cream I have obtained from any dairy, or from any single cow, is 10 per cent. It has ranged from this up to 18 per cent. Store-milk gives an equally wide range, only it is on the other side of the scale. Eight per cent, is the highest I have found, and so on down through every percentage and fractional percentage to a few discrete flakes floating on the surface. In estimating the quality of milk by the cream, it should not be forgotten that the constant agitation it receives in transporta- tion converts a part of the cream into butter, which sinks to the bottom of the can to be received by the last customer only. If I should find but 8 per cent, of cream on milk which had been transported from a distance by rail or otherwise, I should be unwilling to complain of the retailer, unless the specific gravity were also low. The total solid matter of milk should not be less than 12 per cent., nor more than 15 per cent. 10 CITY OF PROVIDENCE The following table explains itself. The twenty-four analy- ses were made as I received the samples from shop, cellar, cart, family and farm, all at a temperature of 60°F :- No. sp. gr. PERCENTAGES. - Remarks. Cream Water Solids. Water Added. Reaction. Sediments. 1 1032 6,00 86.19 13.81 - Alkaline. - Skimmed. 2 1024 5.00 89.43 10.56 20.00 << Sand. cc 3 1022 6.00 90.66 9.33 26.66 << Sand,organ- ic matter. <c 4 1023 3 00 90.55 9.45 23.33 if Sand,organ- ic matter. u 5 1031 9.00 87.95 12.05 - il - - 6 1033 12 00 84 93 15.07 - «< - Average of 16 cows. 7 1023 2.50 90.71 9.28 23 33 Acid. Sand,organ- ic matter. Skimmed. 9 1028 10.50 89.53 10.46 ■ ' ' - Alkaline. - From 1 cow. 10 1032 11.00 85.70 14.29 - << - <C 4C Cc 11 1024 8.0 89.29 10.70 20.00 - Sand. - 12 1024 5.00 - 20.00 - Sand, starch Skim'd,cord, bad odor. 13 1032 1.50 - Acid. - Skimmed. 14 1028 6.00 - - 6.00 - <« 15 1020 50 91.03 8.97 33.33 Alkaline. S'd, organic mat. starch. Skm'd,putrid 16 1027 6.00 - - 10 00 - Skimmed. Skimmed, 17 1031 4.50 - - - - from family. 18 1025 7.00 - - 16.66 - Sand. - 19 1027 18.00 - - - - -. -... From cart. 20 1027 3.00 - - 10.00 Acid. Sand. Skimmed. 21 1025 2.50 - - - - - 17.00 Alkaline. Sand. << 22 1030 16.00 86.14 13.86 - - - Average of 15 cows. 23 1031 10.00 87.43 12.57 - - - Average of 10 cows. 24 1030 11.00 - - - - - The whole matter, then, may be summed up thus. In general, the milk furnished to private families, by our farmers, is free from adulteration. That they carry two qualities of milk, as has been affirmed, I have not determined, though No. 17 of the table shows plainly that the skimmer was used. ADULTERATION OF MILK.' 11 As a rule, store milk is simply skim-milk, with one-tenth to one-third water added. See Nos. 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, of table. The stores are supplied almost wholly by wholesale dealers, who obtain their milk by rail, at a distance from the city, directly from the farmers or from agents. It is taken from the cars, to their establishments near the city, and ! and then distributed to the shops, where it is again measured out in pints and quarts. It need not be thought a miraculous thing, that an article subject to such extensive handling, should itself become extended. The measure has been liberal in most cases. The extent of adulteration corresponds, in some degree, to the class of customers. It will be seen that most of the samples gave an alkaline reaction. Pure, fresh milk, should be slightly alkaline, but most of these were excessively so. This can easily be acounted for, from the fact that bicarbonate of soda is frequently added to prevent rapid souring; and sometimes common salt is added to raise the specific gravity. The practice of adding soda is not a bad one. 1 believe it were better, both for the producer and the consumer, if a small quantity of the bicar- bonate say, a tea spoonful to the gallon, were added immedi- ately after cooling. This would neutralize a small quantity of acid first formed, and prevent the rapid souring of the whole mass. Several samples were unduly colored, perhaps from burnt sugar, as the taste was saccharine. The sand, which appears so often, must have come from the water with which the milk was diluted. Any one acquainted with the alluvial formation of " Providence Plantations," can- not be at a loss to account for its source. It is the same brown sand we see all about us. It is hoped that the new water sup- ply will give us purer milk, less sand, at least, but let us pray, no more water. This is an advantage entirely overlooked by the friends of the water-question. 12 CITY OF PROVIDENCE. I have found a general unwillingness on the part of those who suffer the most from poor milk, to give me any aid in pro- curing samples. It arises from a fear of being called upon to testify against their shopkeepers. As soon as they see my milk-bottle, and ascertain its use, they are suddenly seized with an uncontrollable desire to live at peace with their neigh- bors. I requested a poor Irish woman, in whose bowl I had repeatedly seen the poorest milk, and whose child had suffered all but death for want of proper nourishment, to procure me an extra pint. Finding the milk of fair quality, I mistrusted she had deceived me. On going to her, she confessed that, unwil- ling to displease me, or to bring her shopkeeper into disrepute, she had gone a distance for the milk. Certainly such faithful- ness should be bettei' rewarded. Complaint has sometimes been made of the farmers, that they charge too much for their milk. This complaint, I must regard as unjust. Few of our citizens are capable of rightly estimating the cost of producing milk. The universal testi- mony of the farmers themselves, on this point, ought to have some weight in deciding the question. They, of all others, are the best capable of judging. The price of milk is not much higher than formerly, while the cost of producing it must be very much greater. The cost of feed, of labor, and of the cow herself, is double what it used to be. There is not enough milk produced in our vicinity to supply the city. The price should be such as to induce more farmers to engage in its production, and to encourage those already so engaged, to produce more. I believe we may set this down as an established fact, that no large city need expect an abundant supply of good milk, unless they pay the producers a remunera- tive price for their labor. Our city consumes at least, 15,000 quarts of milk daily. There is nothing like this quantity pro- duced in this neighborhood, nor, we may safely say, is there enough brought in from a distance, to answer this demand. And then there are certain seasons of the year, when the usual supply must necessarily be diminished. How are these varying deficits made up ? ADULTERATION OF MILK. 13 I am told that the milk received from a distance, by our wholesale dealers, costs them quite as much as they receive from the shopkeepers after distributing it. Whence the profits in trade ? And so these establishments are supported, if not enriched, by the hard earned pennies of the poor ! It is poor economy indeed, for a customer, however poor, to discharge an honest milk-man who charges him nine cents per quart, because he can get milk for eight cents, which is dear at five cents. He would do far better to pay his six cents, if that be all he has to spare, for an honest pint, and add water to suit himself. The best thing a customer can do, if he is sure he receives good milk, is to pay his bill without com- ments. Now, whose business is it to attend to this matter of adul- teration ? Have we any means of protection ? I doubt not we have laws against adulterations in general, and for the punish- ment of offenders; but whose business is it to execute these laws ? It seems to me that the appointment of an inspector of is milk a prime necessity, both as a protection to the consumer and to the honest producer. I believe a more general investi- gation than I have been able to make, in all quarters of the city, would prove the necessity of such an officer. Already the evil has assumed a considerable magnitude, and it must increase as the city increases. The poor customer' has no means of redress. If he complains he receives abuse only. If there were an officer to whom the public could have free access, complaints could be made without the usual embarrass- ment, and they would be more frequent and the offenders brought to speedy punishment. The remarks of Dr. J. C. White, of Boston, in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of 1863, are to the point here: " Until all men learn to become honest, it is apparent that water, so long as it remains at its present remunerative price, may gain access to the cans, even more than once, before it finally reaches the consumer, and until that time it becomes necessary for the law to protect the sick and the ignorant, both against mercenary thought- lessness and reckless depravity. 14 CITY OF PROVIDENCE. Milk adulterated with water is milk no longer ; and although the agent thus employed is by itself harmless, its use in this way is none the less a grave offence both against the health and the pocket of the community." We all recognize pure milk as a luxury and a necessity. It is well nigh indispensable in the kitchen, the sick-room, and the nursery. It enters largely into many of the dishes of our daily food. It is especially adapted to the wants of the sick- room, since it contains all the elements essential to nourish the body, in a form which needs but little digestion to prepare it for absorption, when the digestive organs are too weak from disease or abuse to extract the same elements from cruder ma- terials. And if there were other articles of diet answering the conditions of the case equally well, hands, even the most wil- ling, too often lack the skill properly to prepare it. What a very godsend the physician often finds in this liquid, as he is too often put to his wit's end to devise some suitable nourish- ment for a poor patient lying in squalor and wretchedness, with no one around him but unskilled and perhaps unwilling attendants. God made milk for sick folks and babies. But unquestionably the necessity of pure milk is felt most in the nursery ; and in this connection, I must be allowed an appeal for the babies. Laying aside the somewhat hackneyed professional lamenta- tion concerning the imperfect development of the lacteal func- tions of " modern mothers," it is a fact that disease too often dries up the maternal fountain, and it becomes necessary to bring up the infant by hand. And in all cases the child needs milk as a part of its daily rations long after it is proper for it to draw its sustenance from the usual source of infant life. Cow's milk, with slight variations of the relative proportions of water and sugar, forms the most perfect and the most easily obtained substitute for mother's milk. It is universally admitted by the most distinguished gentle- men of our profession that of all the causes of infant mortality in large cities and towns, the want of pure milk is the most fruitful of evil. It is ever a matter of solicitude both to parent ADULTERATION OF MILK. 15 and physician whenever it becoms necessary to bring up an infant by hand. As to the " one cow's milk," that exists, in too many instances, only in the imagination of the fond mother. The difficulty in bringing up children by hand lies not so much in the kind as in the quality of milk. It is nearly as easy to raise a child on pure cow's milk as it is by the breast. In the country where there is an abundant supply of pure, fresh milk, we hear but little of the dangers of the bottle. To look at the question a little more practically, suppose a child requires for nourishment one quart of pure milk daily. The milk as it comes from the store is already one third water, and the unsus- pecting mother, supposing it to be pure, still further dilutes it one fourth more before feeding it to the child. It is evident that he is getting but half enough to sustain life and must starve, " Such an underfed child," says Dr. Corson of Penn., " will be hungry, peevish, fretful; will moan, start in its sleep, look pale, have an acid stomach, be colicky, be considered sick, be dosed with medicine, for the food is insufficient in quantity and defec- tive in quality, and will finally die." Now suppose the physi- cian prescribes for this child two ounces of sweet cream mixed with thin arrowroot, to be taken during the twenty-four hours, how much milk must the mother obtain, like the sample No. 15 of the table, to get these two ounces? Not less than twelve and a half quarts. What physician has not been moved with pity,-I may say with indignation,-at the first sight of his poor little emaciated patient tugging away at a bottle filled with slops which no thrifty farmer would deem fit for a pig, its features pinched and old, its muscles standing out in strings, and its scalp and limbs broken out with sores. In conclusion allow me to quote Dr. White again:- a To many a poor child, living through the summer heats in the city, in haunts of cholera infantum, it [milk] brings as it were, the essence of sweet meadows and breezy pastures, so full of new life to such little patients. " The rich may have it pure in town, or go seek it in the country ; but to the poor, both are alike impossible, and hence many women become mothers, only to see their half-nourished offspring struggle 16 CITY OF PROVIDENCE. through a few months of a miserable existence, to die at last, merely for the want of an abundant diet of pure milk. During'the past two summers more than 500 children have died of cholera infantum in this city [Boston], nearly all of whom, under more favorable circum- stances of residence and food, might have been saved to the com- munity." Very respectfully yours, OLIVER C. WIGGIN.