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52
To give effect to the new order in London, the Public Health Committee in July recommended
the appointment of Mr. P. J. Simpson, M.R.C.V.S., and two assistants, for a period not exceeding two
months, to examine the cows in London cowsheds and report as to cases of tubercular disease of the
udder. The Committee also recommended that they be authorised, should they deem it advisable, to
send milk from diseased animals to a bacteriologist for examination. These recommendations
were adopted by the Council, and the result of Mr. Simpson's inspection is set out in the following
report of the Public Health Committee presented to the Council in November, 1899.
We reported to the Council in July last on the question of the steps to be taken to give effect in
London to the Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order of 1899, the purport of which is to provide that
milk from cows certified by a veterinary surgeon to be suffering from tubercular disease of the udder
shall not be mixed with other milk, and shall not be sold or used for human food. On 25th July the
Council adopted our recommendation to employ Mr. P. J. Simpson, a veterinary surgeon, of Maidenhead,
and two assistant senior veterinary students for a period not exceeding two months, to examine the cows
in London cowsheds and report as to cases of tubercular disease of the udder.
The inspection commenced on August 8th, and occupied a period of seven and a half weeks, during
which time all the cows in London were inspected. The whole sum expended was £86 Os. 4d., of which
£78 4s. 6d. represented salaries, and £7 15s. 10d., travelling expenses.
The procedure adopted was that the two assistant inspectors preceded Mr. Simpson with instructions
to minutely examine the udders of all the cows in licensed cowshed premises, and to make a daily return
of every abnormality of udder discovered by them. On receipt of this return Mr. Simpson visited the
premises for the purpose of determining the nature of the affection in each instance. Mr. Simpson
states that this system was found to answer every purpose for which it was intended, and was conducted
without inconvenience to the owners of cows.
It appears from Mr. Simpson's report that in all 5,144 cows were inspected, and of these 4,464 were
found to be free from disease or abnormalities of the udder.

It will thus be seen that seven cows were found to have tubercular disease of the udder, while
another five were regarded as suspicious. Of the seven cows five have been sold or slaughtered and the
owners of the other two have undertaken not to use their milk. Of the five Buspected cows, the milk
from three has been sent to Dr. Klein for examination and the remaining two cows have been already
disposed of. The milk of two of the three has been found to contain tubercle bacilli. One of these cows
has been sent to the butcher, and the other it was proposed to send to the market, whence it may be
expected it will be conveyed to the butcher.
With regard to the 247 cows suffering from acute mastitis or affected with chronic induration of the
udder, Mr. Simpson points out that such cows require periodical inspection, owing to the fact that the
characteristics of minute deep-seated tubercular lesions may possibly escape detection through the mass
of inflamed gland in acute mastitis, or through the increased size of the udder in many chronic indurations
succeeding acute attacks.
Mr. Simpson regards the animals referred to in columns 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the table, and which
number 421, as comparatively harmless, and in the majority ot cases absolutely so. We may, however,
point out that of the 37 animals mentioned in column 9 some were removed from the premises during
the period between th« visit of the assistant inspector and Mr. Simpson, and it seems desirable that
there should be some power to prevent the removal or disposal of suspected cows pending their
examination by a veterinary surgeon, and also to prevent the sale of their milk until such examination
has taken place.
Having regard to the fact that seven cows have been found to be suffering from tubercular disease
of the udder, and thus to be distinctly dangerous sources of infection, that the milk of two other
suspected cows has been found on examination to contain tubercle bacilli, and that a large number of
cows are affected with diseases of the udder which render it difficult to detect tubercular lesions, and
which therefore require periodical inspection, we think, for the protection of the public that the
examination of all London cows should be repeated periodically, say at intervals of three months, and
cows coming under suspicion at more frequent intervals. This would involve an expenditure of about
£300 per annum.
It must, however, be recognised that the examination of cows in London cowsheds would be
absolutely futile to prevent the sale of tuberculous milk, so long as milk from cows outside the county,
which have been subjected to no inspection, is allowed to be sold in London and to be mixed with milk
produced in London. The following extract from a report by Dr. Hope, medical officer of Liverpool, is
well worthy of attention in this connection—
"It would naturally be thought that with the very great natural advantages which the country
possesses, tubercle would be less frequent in ths country than in the town. This, however, is far
from being the case, and it is a most serious reflection upon the sanitation of country shippons that
tubercle is found more than twice as often in samples from the country as it is in the samples from
the town [where proper inspections are carried out]. Thus, out of 312 samples, 19, or 6 0 per cent.,
were found to be infected with tubercle; but out of 95 samples taken at the railway stations on
arrival from the country 14, or 14.7 per cent,, were found to be infected."
Again, as Mr. Simpson points out, although only one clinically affected udder was discovered in the
whole of the Hackney cowshed premises, no less than 17, or 22 per cent., of the 77 samples taken from the
milkshops in various parts of that district by Dr. King Warry in the early part of the year were certified
by Dr. Allan MacFadyean, after experimental tests, to contain tubercle bacilli of virulent character, and
it should be carefully noted that of these 17 samples of infected milk four only were obtained from cowkeepers'
dairies in the Hackney district, and ill each of these four instances additional supplies of milk
were obtained from outside sources, the remaining 13 samples of infected milk being taken from milkshops
not exclusively supplied by cows within the district.