Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
The annual report made to the Council of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich for the year 1905
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it is fastened to a snap along the wall. Here the milkers take
each cow in hand as it arrives from the cleaning shed. These
milkers are required to wash themselves thoroughly in a bathroom
provided adjacent to the milking shed, and to wear clean linen
clothes that are frequently washed and sterilised twice daily."
The result of all this elaborate care was that, according to Mr.
Rhodes, while ordinary milk supplied to New York was found to
contain 5,000,000 bacteria to the cubic centimetre, an analysis of
certified milk showed an average of only from 1,500 to 1,600
bacteria in the same bulk.
It will be seen from the price paid for this milk, that however
admirable the system may be, it is only applicable in the case of
very wealthy families, and would not at all meet the requirements
of the poorest of the poor, in whom we chiefly are concerned.
The experiment which is now being carried out at Huddersfield
was also discoursed upon, and the Mayor of Huddersfield
detailed his personal experiences gained in the supervision of
seventy-four babies who are participating in his private scheme.
He stated that in the small district concerned it was regarded as
a disgrace for a woman to lose a child, and therein lay a moral
for other districts. He also pointed out that he had found that
mothers were remarkably teachable, and it seems to us that herein
lies the line upon which Sanitary Authorities will have to work to
combat this great evil.
Dr. Hewitt, Cheshire, said that the high rate of mortality was
due to bad sanitary surroundings, and to the carelessness and
ignorance of mothers.