97 
THE VETERINARIAN, FEBRUARY 1, 1879. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—ClCEEO. 
MILK EPIDEMICS. 
A novel idea is at present agitating the medical mind. 
Certain zymotic diseases, notably scarlatina, enteric fever, 
and diphtheria, have been traced to the influence of milk 
supplied from a particular farm. 
In our last number we quoted an instance of the dis¬ 
semination of the poison of typhoid by means of contaminated 
milk arising from the carelessness of the owner of the cows 5 
who frequently went to attend to or milk the animals after 
nursing his sick children. 
In the cases which have been recorded of the extension of 
disease through the medium of the milk supply, it has always 
been assumed, and frequently proved, that the milk has 
become infected by the admixture of infective matter from 
the diseased human subject. In this manner the poison of 
a disease may he conveyed to a considerable distance, and be 
introduced into the systems of healthy individuals in a way 
least calculated to excite suspicion. 
When an inquiry in connection with an outbreak of 
disease led to the milk being suspected the chain of evidence 
was considered to be complete if the existence of the affec¬ 
tion were ascertained on the premises whence the milk had 
been distributed. The actual cause of contamination might 
be the sick person himself, or air or water charged with his 
excreta; in any case it was sufficient to prove the presence 
of the disease germ in proximity to the milk. 
Many outbreaks of zymotic disease have, however, taken 
place in which some connection with the milk supply could 
be shown, hut in reference to which no possible cause of 
contamination could be ascertained and in regard to these 
cases it came to he said that the difficulty would be easily 
solved if it could be shown that some condition of the cow 
