THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 43 



of milk at the place of production as well as when offered for sale, 

 though this suggestion was not generally accepted by sanitarians 

 until a generation later. The board of health was abolished by the 

 terms of the act providing a permanent form of government for the 

 District of Columbia, approved June 11, 1878, the commissioners 

 being authorized in lieu thereof to appoint a physician as health 

 officer, charged with the execution and enforcement, under the direc- 

 tion of the commissioners, of all laws and regulations relating to 

 the public health and to vital statistics. During the fiscal year 

 1883-84 the then health officer undertook to inspect the dairy farms 

 supplying milk to the District, and as a result of this investigation 

 he strongly emphasized the necessity of going beyond the analyses 

 of samples of milk sold in the community, and rigidly examining 

 into conditions affecting, from a sanitary standpoint, the dairy farms 

 from which shipments of milk were made to the National Capital. 

 On October 12, 1888, Congress passed an act to prevent the manu- 

 facture of adulterated foods or drugs in the District of Columbia, 

 in consequence of which the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, to 

 whom the enforcement of this act was committed, fixed as a standard 

 for milk offered for sale in the District that the minimum specific 

 gravity should be 1.030 at 60 F., and that the milk should contain 

 not less than 13 parts in 100 of solids as follows : Fat, 3.5 ; solids, not 

 fat, 9.5 ; water, not more than 87. The removal of cream, or the addi- 

 tion of water, foreign fats, or coloring matter were to be considered 

 as adulterations. 



INVESTIGATION OF PREVALENCE OF TYPHOID FEVER. 



As the result of the prevailing high death rate from typhoid fever 

 in the District, a committee, of which Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder was 

 chairman, was appointed by the District Medical Society for the pur- 

 pose of investigating the prevalence and causes of the disease. The 

 report of this committee was submitted to the Committee on -the 

 District of Columbia, House of Representatives, and published as a 

 congressional document in 1894. The report attributed the alarming 

 prevalence of typhoid fever to the Potomac water, the pollution of 

 the soil from defective sewers, the backing up of sewage from tidal 

 movements, and the drinking of Avell or pump water and contaminated 

 milk. The committee recommended the careful inspection of dairies 

 contributing to the District milk supply and the enactment of a 

 statute prohibiting the selling of milk in the District without a per- 

 mit from the health office. 



ACT OF MARCH 2, 1895. 



The act approved March 2, 1895 (Appendix P), requiring the in- 

 spection of all dairy farms furnishing milk for consumption in the 

 city of Washington, including not only farms located within the 

 boundaries of the District, but also those in the States from which 

 the supply is largely received, secured for the national capital the 

 credit of being the first city in the country to extend inspection to 

 dairy farms as well as to city milk depots. 



This act charged the health officer, under direction of the com- 

 missioners, witlTthe duty of making and enforcing regulations to 



