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made known, and have been largely canvassed by authorities upon sanitary
subjects, no adverse criticism has yet appeared, but on the contrary the
inference I drew has been universally accepted as the only one which could
by any possibility have been adopted. The offending tank was a wooden
one sunk into the earth. It had become decayed and a portion of it had
given way. From this point there was a communication by means of a rat
burrow with some old drains, from which there is no doubt that the contagion
proceeding from the drains had reached the contents of the tank.
But while I may fairly leave such of you as desire to follow the argument to
consult my detailed account of the accident, I may mention here the
following case as curiously confirmatory of the view I have taken of it. In
a street of about fifty villa residences two of the houses only were supplied
from the dairy. In only one of these did typhoid occur. The family, consisting
of the father and mother, three boys, aged two, four and five years,
a baby aged ten months, two servants, and a governess. Two kinds of
milk were supplied to the house from the dairy, namely, ordinary milk at
fourpence per quart, and " babies milk" at five pence. Only the baby got
the latter. It was better than the ordinary milk as "it threw up more
cream." It kept well. The master of the house on one occasion before the
outbreak had the curiosity to examine the ordinary milk with a specific
gravity galactometer, and following the directions accompanying the
instrument, inferred that one-fourth of the bulk was added water. The
youngest boy took most of this milk, but all three boys had bread and
milk for breakfast. The boys and the mother were ill with typhoid in tho
country, whither the family had gone for their summer trip immediately
after the youngest boy, who was the first of the family attacked, was taken
ill. The baby remained well, as also did the father, the governess and
one servant. Of all the family, one servant only remained at home and continued
to use the milk. She was taken ill later, and had a sharp attack of
typhoid. At the other house in the street, the part of the family at home
during June, July, and August wa3 the father, mother and one servant.
At this house nothing but "babies milk" was taken in, the extra prico
being habitually paid. No fever occurred at this house.
The practice of watering milk is all but universal among milk sellers in
London. That it is in the nature of a fraud upon the purchasers must be
generally allowed, but it is one which the public seem to unite in condoning.
The excuse commonly made is that with the price of dairy stock, keep, &c.,
no dairyman could make a profit upon milk at the ordinary retail price if