408 APPENDIX. [No. XXXVI.c. 



20 for every offence, and any other person knowingly selling such produce 

 might in like manner be subject to a penalty of 5 for every offence. It 

 is known in France that when vineyards are irrigated by sewage the 

 quality of the wine is impaired and not restored for years. 



It cannot be a proper thing for cattle to be fed on food which in its 

 relation to sewage is under circumstances unfit for the food of man. At 

 the present moment we are not thoroughly acquainted with the action of 

 the typhoid fever poison, the cholera ppison, or the erysipelas poison on 

 cattle, and until we have such knowledge we should act on the side of 

 prudence. We know the commimicability of disease from one kind of 

 animal to another. We know that the milk of cows suffering from the 

 foot-and-mouth disease is highly fatal to pigs, and so we ought to protect 

 cattle by reasonable care from either eating or drinking the excreta of 

 diseases of mankind of a contagious character. 



Much grass is sold from sewage farms. Of the state of that grass one 

 member of a Board of Health has favoured us with an account. 



Probably a penalty of 5 for every offence of the sale or employment 

 of vegetables for cattle, other than milch cows, less than one month after 

 the application of sewage, would be an adequate protection to the 

 community. 



But everybody knows that the milk of all animals is affected by what 

 the mother eats, and therefore it is much more important that milch cows 

 should be further protected than cattle : hence a higher penalty may be 

 inflicted in these cases, and a longer time after irrigation demanded. The 

 real time actually required after irrigation must necessarily depend upon 

 the temperature, the light, the power of assimilation by the plant, as has 

 already been pointed out ; yet, in a practical way, an interval of six weeks 

 may be taken as a necessary time which ought to elapse after irrigation, 

 and this might be enforced by a penalty of 10 for every offence. 



The buyers of the sewage grass, in the state which has been described, 

 are mostly poor men, of little experience and less knowledge. They 

 believe that they are buying cheaply and safely, relying upon the honour 

 of a Board of Health as to the quality ; but whether the sale of such stuff 

 as wholesome grass does not in point of law really amount to a fraud, I 

 must leave to be decided by the legal advisers of Boards of Health. 



We have experimented upon it with cows, but used alone it seemed to 

 be insufficient for the support of life, and it had to be discontinued to 

 prevent its killing the animal by diarrhoea and wasting. The milk from 

 cows fed from such grass I have ascertained, by numerous experiments, to 

 be liable to become putrid, while butter made from such milk goes rapidly 

 rancid, and I have found the casein is frequently altered in quality, and 

 sometimes will actually dialyse. An elaborate account of our investiga- 

 tions upon this head occurs in my son's book, * On Milk in Health and 

 Disease,' and so it is unnecessary to consider the matter further in this 

 paper. 



No infant or invalid should ever be fed on milk from cows fed with 

 sewage grass. It is of such great importance to the public to insure the 

 sale of a pure wholesome milk, that they should abstain from buying milk 

 of any dairyman who is known to purchase sewage grass. As long as 

 Boards of Health can sell sewage grass, their cupidity will prevent them 

 from knowing that sewage grass is immature grass, plus frecal matter. 



