Mr. Wilkinson, Milk Tester

Until recently, you may not have given much thought to droplets in the air you’re breathing. Now that the Coronavirus has taken over every facet of your life, it’s likely top of your mind. (I have now received cautionary communications from our school, our pediatrician, my work, my primary care doctor and our church).

Back in 1913, infectious disease was part of life because vaccines either didn’t exist or hadn’t reached the general population yet. Now that we all enjoy looking at disease numbers so much, I thought it might be fun to review a chart from 1913. I just parsed numbers from New York City, where the population in July 1913 (as per this report) stood at 5,198,888.

For reference, fatality rate for Coronavirus currently stands at fewer than 1 per 100 cases.

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I should mention that the U.S. Bureau of the Census only began to publish annual reports on mortality starting in 1900. In this age of big data, it may be hard to conceive that there was a time – not so far back – that it was not even collected.

I first looked up all this infections disease information because the album picture I chose for today shows Mr. Wilkinson, milk tester. I assumed the “testing” was for pathogens in the milk. In fact, it’s much more likely that he tested for the quality of the milk for sale (Grade A, Grade B, etc.)

Remember that in the Progressive Era, the thrust was improving things for the general good. It was the Food and Drug Act in particular (passed on June 30, 1906) that allowed the Department of Health to have a say in the production of safe, clean milk. Even still, most people drank raw milk because the pasteurized was often boiled and caused a “cooked milk” taste.

In January 1912, the Board of Health in New York City created three classes of milk: Grade A, Grade B and Grade C. Grades A and B were pasteurized while Grade C was not. In fact, it would not be until 1926 that pasteurization of all milk sold in New York City was strictly enforced.

Consumers paid two cents more for Grade A over Grade B milk. The milk dealers then gave a premium to farmers for the extra cost of producing the better quality milk depending on the bacteria colonies in the milk.

Now, I could tell you about the centrifugal cream separator and the development of the Babcock Test to test for the adulteration of milk but I fear I might lose you. I confess that it didn’t take long in my research to get lost in the science of it.

So here’s a poem instead. It stemmed from the warning that you can’t tell whether surfaces have the COVID-19 on it or not by looking at them. It just seemed like such an apt statement for this day in age. (“Don’t touch!”)

I gave up at the end but I know you as a forgiving bunch. 🙂

 On the Surface

 On the surface 
 We
 Are closer, see

 On FaceTime 
 More 
 connected, sure

 On chatrooms
 Now
 Conversing, how

 On earth
 This
 Non-togetherness

 With links
 It stinks methinks.

-Martha Gonzalez