Xo. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' KEPOKT. 589 



to pages 544—551. We would call your special attention, 

 however, to one of these cases reported. 



In this (Quincy) case it will be seen that the drain from 

 the kitchen sink, the privy vauh and the manure ])ilc arc all 

 in the neighborhood of the well, and an analysis of the water 

 shows it to contain a large amount of organic matter. 

 Your attention is called to the milk cans hanging to dry 

 and air at the end of the house. These cans are rinsed 

 daily, after washing, with water from the well. It can 

 easily be seen how dangerous this water would become in 

 case of sickness in the family. Many outbreaks of typhoid 

 fever can be traced to this source of infection. 



Prof. W. T. Sedgwick, in a paper on the milk supply 

 problem, read before the Society of Arts, in Boston, notices 

 this same danger : — 



lu 1890 he made a careful bacteriological investigation of the 

 milk supply of Boston, which showed that much of the milk pub- 

 licly sold was far from fresh, and was subject to contamination by 

 the germs of disease. Since that time several serious epidemics 

 of typhoid fever in Massacliusetts have been traced by him to the 

 use of infected milk, and grave suspicions, to say the least, of the 

 spread of tuberculosis by means of the milk supply, have been 

 raised and have not been alla3"ed. . . . 



As a matter of fact, within the last few years a number of epi- 

 demics have been traced to some man in the milk house who was 

 suffering from typhoid fevei*, while working over the milk, and it 

 is believed that slight infections of this kind occur oftener tlian 

 is generally supposed. 



In the Journal of Comparative Medicine, for December, 

 1896: — 



Typhoid infection in a two and a half year old child from drink- 

 ing milk not thoroughly boiled. In May, 1892, a girl two and a 

 half years old became suddenly sick from symptoms of irritation of 

 the bowels, relieved by evacuations and emissions of urine. The 

 treatment adopted, in which other food replaced milk, quickly di- 

 minished the symptoms, which reappeared again as soon as milk 

 was given. Marked typhoid infection also developed, lasting for 

 some weeks. At the end of the fifth week the child was conva- 

 lescent. For the reason that the child had been fed exclusively 

 with milk, and because the symptoms after disappearing suddenly 

 reappeared when the milk diet was recommended, the physician 



