39^ 



Analysis of Sour Milk. 



Council that it would be better for the suggestion to come from 

 the Board of Agriculture if they thought it advisable. 



"I have been requested by the Public Health Committee, before 

 they bring the matter before the Council, to ascertain the views 

 of the Government Analysts and the Board of Agriculture as 

 regards collecting samples. 



" I am, 



" Your obedient Servant, 



" (Signed) R. K. BROWN, 

 " Medical Officer of Health." 



" Dr. T. E. Thorpe, 



" Government Laboratory, W.C." 



II. 



From Principal Chemist, Government Laboratory, to Medical 

 Officer of Health, Bermondsey. 

 " Government Laboratory, 



" Clement's Inn Passage, 



" Strand, London, W.C. 



" 2 ist October, 1903. 



" Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 

 19th inst. relative to the circular issued by the Board of Agri- 

 culture on the subject of the analysis of sour milk. 



" I am gratified to learn that the Public Analyst for 

 Bermondsey considers that the results of the enquiry as to the 

 corrections which have to be made in consequence of the 

 changes which the milk may experience on keeping ' are on the 

 whole satisfactory,' but with respect to his qualification, may I 

 assure both you and him that the conditions under which the 

 milk was kept were in no wise different from those in which the 

 samples would be kept by the Inspector. The conditions were 

 precisely those which would be present in the case of samples 

 taken under the Act. Indeed, to have placed the milk under 

 'the most favourable conditions,' or, indeed, under any con- 

 ditions which were in any sense exceptional, would have been to 

 defeat the object of the inquiry. 



"All experience goes to show that the changes which may 

 occur in samples, as actually taken and retained by Inspectors, 

 do not affect to any material extent the analytical results. Of 



