382 APPENDIX. [No. XXXVI.A. 



No. XXXYI.A. 



CORRESPONDENCE ON MILK, TYPHOID FEVER, AND 

 SEWAGE. By ALFRED SMEE. 



THE following observations on Milk, Typhoid Fever, and Sewage, some of 

 which appeared in the columns of the ' Times ' newspaper, and all in those 

 of the 'Standard,' have been reprinted in consequence of the intense 

 interest they have excited. 



Sewage-grounds, as now conducted, are a failure. They do not dis- 

 infect the sewage. They are dangerous to health. They are not adapted 

 for healthy vegetation, and the produce, under certain circumstances, is 

 unfit for either the food of man or beast. 



The Houses of Parliament have been deceived by exaggerated state- 

 ments to pass Acts which have proved an injury to the community. 



So-called skilled witnesses and dilettante counsellors, to the great 

 annoyance of professional men and to the disgrace of science, have made 

 declarations before parliamentary committees where, with ordinary intel- 

 ligence, they could not have been ignorant of their falsity. 



As a consequence, serious evils have arisen by the formation of pesti- 

 lential sewage-grounds, which now imperatively demand steps to be taken 

 for their entire abolition where possible; and where their abolition is 

 impracticable, then for their regulation and inspection by competent 

 authorities, that the town-councillors of one district may not poison the 

 air and pollute the wells of the territory of their neighbours. 



7, FINSBURY CIRCUS, A. SMEE. 



Sept. llth, 1873. 



SIR, In reference to your leading article in this day's 'Standard,' 

 I beg to forward a copy of a letter which I have this day sent to Mr. Simon, 

 the distinguished Officer of Health to the Privy Council. 



LETTER TO JOHN SIMON, ESQ., F.R.S., D.C.L., PRIVY COUNCIL 

 OFFICE. 



I am in a position to explain the occurrence of typhoid fever from 

 the use of milk. We keep a small herd of cows, from which my house in 

 London is supplied with milk, cream, and butter. What is not required 

 for our own use is sent to the members of the families of the men employed 

 at my garden, and when there is any surplus the neighbours purchase it. 



During the spring my son directed, without my knowledge, that the 

 cows should be fed with a small proportion of sewage grass, when, without 

 knowing the reason, the butter was so offensive we could not bear it on the 

 table ; the other members of the family were loud in their complaints, and 

 the neighbours for a long time came for no more butter. 



Upon inquiry, I heard of the feed of sewage grass, which was imme- 

 diately ordered to be discontinued, when the milk, cream, and butter 

 resumed their former excellence. 



This seemed to me too seriously important to pass unnoticed, so I 

 desired my son again to repeat the experiment suddenly, without any 

 notice, when the same results again occurred. Cows like the sewage grass, 



