384 APPENDIX. [No. XXXVI.A. 



Both men who attend to my son's cows state that they can detect no 

 difference in new milk produced from grass grown upon land irrigated 

 with town sewage till after some hours have elapsed : and 1 have ascer- 

 tained that the milk from sewage farms is regularly consumed in some of 

 our large towns too soon for its source to be detected, and, perhaps, too 

 soon for it to be actually hurtful. 



August 18. 



The time has arrived for grouping the valuable information which the 

 milk controversy has elicited. My observations were limited by the word 

 " putrid," and the facts appear to turn upon the right use of the word. A 

 putrid state of decomposition as is observed in town sewage is very 

 different from the ammoniacal state which is observed in stables, and 

 which the gardener uses in his hotbeds, and which should always be 

 employed for the culture of first-class vegetables. 



In answer to vaiious inquiries, our cows are of the Alderney, Brittany, 

 and short-horn breeds, and are usually fed on fields on the lower tertiary 

 bed of sand, immediately above the chalk, or upon a drift bed of flints, 

 which in bygone days have been washed out of the chalk. In the first 

 case my son gave the cows two rods of grass from the Croydon sewage 

 fields, fresh cut, which was about a full barrowful to each cow per day, as 

 a part of their usual food, when the putrid state of the milk and butter 

 became apparent. He tried the experiment without my knowledge, having 

 a full belief in the benefits which would accrue, as at that time he did not 

 share my opinion of the hurtful qualities of sewage grass. That, and the 

 subsequent experiment, admit neither of qualification nor explanation. 

 ****** 



The proprietor of a large dairy, who supplies several of our largest 

 institutions in London, informs me that he had the Edmonton sewage 

 farm, but was obliged to abandon it, as the milk was unsaleable. Letters 

 confirming my view, or rather in most cases going beyond my statement, 

 have been received from Mr. Bardwell, of Great Queen Street, Westminster ; 

 also from Mr. Hollis, of Eastbourne, who states that when fresh night soil 

 was applied to a meadow the butter afterwards had the flavour of night 

 soil, and was utterly unfit for use. A letter has been received from the 

 celebrated private inquiry office of Field the detective, stating that in 

 America the same thing is noticed. Mr. Butt writes that in all towns and 

 villages of India the buffaloes eat putrid matters, the consequence being 

 that the milk has a most offensive smell, and all Europeans like to have 

 their own cows and keep them tied up. 



At Beddington School, when supplied with sewage milk, 60 cases of 

 typhoid fever occurred, and three deaths, No. 243, No. 249, and one other. 

 It has been endeavoured by the sewage promoters to account for the 

 disaster upon the plea that the milk was directly adulterated by sewage ; 

 but no inquest was held, neither was any man prosecuted. Dr. Mac- 

 Cormack, the medical officer of Lambeth, states that an attack of fever 

 occurred from the Croydon sewage milk ; and a clergyman from Scotland 

 informs me that a cow-keeper neglecting to give his cows fresh water, they 

 drank sewage. After partaking of the milk he had that evening diarrhea. 

 All observers agree that cows will drink sewage freely, and eat vegetables 

 or other substances in a putrid state. 



