Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Report of the County Medical Officer—General.
The following table shows the number of farms visited, the number of cows inspected and the number of cows certified to have tuberculosis of the udder during the year:—
County. | No. of farms inspected. | No. of cows inspected. | No. of cows with tuberculous udders. |
---|---|---|---|
Bedfordshire | 2 | 41 | 1 |
Berkshire | 2 | 61 | — |
Buckinghamshire | 6 | 218 | 1 |
Cheshire | 2 | 83 | — |
Derbyshire | 54 | 1,536 | 14 |
Dorsetshire | 3 | 99 | 3 |
Essex | 2 | 77 | — |
Gloucestershire | 2 | 80 | — |
Hampshire | 14 | 836 | 6 |
Hertfordshire | 1 | 80 | _ |
Huntingdonshire | 1 | 31 | 1 |
Kent | 4 | 131 | — |
Leicestershire | 15 | 329 | 7 |
Lincolnshire | 1 | 17 | _ |
Northamptonshire | 4 | 76 | 2 |
Nottinghamshire | 2 | 73 | — |
Oxfordshire | 2 | 56 | 2 |
Shropshire | 2 | 55 | 1 |
Somersetshire | 22 | 576 | 3 |
Staffordshire | 52 | 1,112 | 5 |
Surrey | 3 | 151 | 1 |
Sussex (East) | 10 | 409 | 3 |
Sussex (West) | 17 | 737 | 2 |
Warwickshire | 8 | 225 | — |
Wiltshire | 247 | 4,537 | 11 |
Worcestershire | 1 | 14 | — |
Total | 479 | 11,640 | 63 |
Farms
inspected in
English
counties.
This table shows that 0.5 per cent. of the cows examined were certified by the Council's
veterinary inspector to have clinical symptoms of tubercular disease of the udder. The supply of
milk for human consumption from the cows thus affected was immediately stopped.
It will be observed that inspection was made of the cows at 479 farms and only 63 cows were
certified to be suffering from tuberculosis of the udder. It should be borne in mind, however, that
various circumstances prevent the discovery at every farm of a cow suffering from tuberculosis of the
udder. In a number of cases, for instance, the farmer whose name was on the churn was found, on
inquiry, not to have sent the milk into London on the date on which the sample was taken. In other
instances, diseased cows had been removed before the inspector's visit; in others, again, a possible
source of mischief was a cow having tuberculosis in some part other than in the udder.
In nearly every case in which a tuberculous cow, or a cow suspected to be tuberculous, was found,
the farmer undertook to withhold the milk of the suspected animal from London.
Offensive Businesses.
In the year 1912 the County Council received 235 applications for licences for slaughter-houses and granted 234. The following table shows the number of applications received and the number of slaughter-houses licensed in recent years. It will be seen that the number of these premises is continually decreasing:—
Year. | No. of applications received. | No. of premises for which licences were granted. | Year. | No. of applications received. | No. of premises for which licences were granted. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1892 | 543 | 537 | 1903 | 350 | 346 |
1893 | 538 | 529 | 1904 | 338 | 333 |
1894 | 518 | 506 | 1905 | 322 | 318 |
1895 | 497 | 485 | 1906 | 310 | 308 |
1896 | 478 | 470 | 1907 | 301 | 294 |
1897 | 460 | 460 | 1908 | 281 | 273 |
1898 | 442 | 429 | 1909 | 265 | 264 |
1899 | 419 | 411 | 1910 | 257 | 255 |
1900 | 405 | 393 | 1911 | 247 | 243 |
1901 | 384 | 381 | 1912 | 235 | 234 |
1902 | 371 | 362 |
Slaughterhouses.
18820 H 2