1906.] 



Milk from|Newly-calved Cows. 



249 



to outbreaks of anthrax, furnished by Inspectors of the Board, 

 contain a mass of useful information, which is now at the dis- 

 posal of the Board's veterinary officers, and it is hoped that 

 material for the elucidation of this difficult problem may ere 

 long be available. The main point which has been brought 

 more and more clearly to light by these investigations is that 

 the existing arrangements for preliminary and confirmatory 

 diagnosis in anthrax are not altogether satisfactory, and that 

 some system should be evolved to meet the deficiencies which 

 have become apparent. 



The report of the Chief Veterinary Officer refers to some of 

 the scientific questions which are the subject of enquiry at the 

 present time, particularly, as mentioned above, the causes and 

 diagnosis of anthrax, as well as swine erysipelas, parasitic 

 mange, and epizootic lymphangitis. 



A case of milk adulteration was recently brought to the 

 notice of the Board by the Local Government Board for Scot- 

 land. ,The defendant in a milk prosecution 



Milk from stated that the milk was sold exactly as 

 Newly-Calved , , , , , , , 



Cows. came from the cows, and that he could 



explain the weakness of the milk in no 



other way than that the milk from newly-calved cows was 



mixed with the milk of other cows. The Board were asked 



whether this liquid, known as " beastings," or colostrum, could 



properly be sold as milk. It is a question how long this fluid — 



which has a low content of butter-fat — continues to be secreted, 



but it seems clear that it does not assume the character of 



ordinary milk for at least three days after the date of the cow's 



calving, and the view taken by the Board of Agriculture is that 



the fluid in question is " not of the nature, substance, and quality 



of the article demanded by the purchaser," who asks for " milk,"' 



and that if it is sold without disclosure, the seller commits an 



offence under Section 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 



1875. Milk that at all partakes of the character of colostrum- 



should not be sold or mixed in any proportion with ordinary 



milk. Apart altogether from its abnormal composition colostrum 



cannot be regarded as an attractive food for human beings. 



