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89
I have thought it best to let the evidence concerning these milks
speak for itself. It may be convenient, however, if I summarise
very briefly the main conclusions to be drawn:—
Twenty-five samples of milk were purchased, without any notice
whatever to any of the vendors. Five of these samples were taken
from milk sellers who keep their own cows. Only one of these
samples is thoroughly good and clean, and only two of them
escape condemnation. The other three were excessively dirty, so
dirty as to be unwholesome ; and one of them contained large
quantities of pus (" matter ") from abscesses in the udder.
The other twenty samples were all obtained from milk sellers
not keeping their own cows, but who retailed milk received from
the country. Of these twenty samples only six were thoroughly
satisfactory, or, in other words, 70 per cent. were not satisfactory,
and four (or 20 per cent.) contained the infective virus of
tuberculosis.
Summarising the whole twenty-five samples under the three
headings selected by Dr. Foulerton, it appears that only 28 per
cent. were satisfactory.
Forty per cent. were " suspiciously " or " excessively " dirty.
Sixteen per cent. were tuberculous milks.*
Seven milks contained the infective agents of inflammatory
disease.
I agree with Dr. Foulerton that it would be unjust to assume
that these unfavourable results represent the conditions of the
Finsbury milk supply generally. They do, however, reveal a
somewhat grave state of affairs, and one which, I venture to think,
calls for action on the part of the Borough Council, especially in
view of the recent findings of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis
as to the danger of using tuberculous milk.
* It may be convenient to state here that milk placed on the market in this
country has been reported frequently to contain the tubercle bacillus, in some
investigations as much as 14 per cent. of the milks sampled being found to be
tuberculous. The most recent returns have been those recorded in the City of
London in 1906, when eight per cent. were found tuberculous; and in Liverpool,
from 1896-1905, of all country milks sampled, 6.5 per cent. were found to be
tuberculous. In Finsbury, in 1903, '25 samples were examined, and yielded no
bacilli of tubercle.