EoBERTON. — Milk ('(■'i a Vehicle of Disease. 585 



uated milk exercises a salutary effect, yet I think we may 

 safely say that it is a very small minority of milk-veudors who 

 would knowingly distribute milk capable of causing disease. 

 Most of those I have become acquainted with have show'n them- 

 selves anxious to provide against dangers of this kind. Still, 

 there are black sheep in every flock, and cases have come to 

 light where milk has been deliberately adulterated with sewage 

 from an open drain. Whore the dairyman is at fault the 

 deficiency probably arises chiefly from ignorance or careless- 

 ness, and until it is usual for dairymen to be proficient in 

 sanitary science such causes must continue to operate. 

 Hence the necessity that dairies and milk-shops should be 

 under the supervision of some public authority, and that the 

 law should demand that precautions bo taken to insure a pure 

 milk-supply. It is necessary to provide — 



1. That cows whose milk is used for consumption by man 

 should be free from disease : 



2. That the sanitary ari-angements of dairies and milk- 

 shops and their surroundings should be complete : 



3. That the water used for the cows should be good, a.nd 

 especially also that water intended for washing the teats be- 

 fore milking, and for cleansing the milk-cans and other dairy- 

 utensils, should be such as man might drink with impunity : 



4. That there should he proper appliances for efficiently 

 cleansing all utensils in which the milk is placed : 



5. That during its distribution the milk is kept from dust : 



6. That all employed hi dairies, or otherwase in the dis- 

 tribution of milk, should themselves be free from infectious 

 disease, and should not come in contact wutli those thus 

 affe-^tcd. 



In Britain, such provisions as these are in force, and to 

 facilitate their being carried out it is provided also that each 

 local authority should keep a register of all carrying on the 

 business of cow-keepers, dairymen, or purveyors of milk. In 

 some districts the Dairy, Cow-sheds, and Milk-shops Order 

 seems to work fairly well, but it is now felt that further legis- 

 lation is necessary, as almost universally there is great laxity 

 in enforcing its provisions, owing to the want of efficient in- 

 spection. Dairies and milk-shops, as well as the cows them- 

 selves, ought to be subject to frequent systematic inspection 

 by competent officials. There is also no provision against 

 the importation of impure milk into any locality, although 

 all dairies and shops within its boundaries may be rigidly 

 controlled. For example, London dairies maybe perfect, and 

 yet milk of doubtful quality may be imported perhaps from 

 the North of England without restraint. At present, in 

 Britain, tuberculosis is not one of the diseases included among 

 those which disable a cow from being used for dairy purjioses. 



