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106 Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
incubation being four to six days. According to the
statement of the Lady Superintendent, no books, letters,
or clothing had been received from outside by any of
the first infected ehildren.
Inquiry was also made with reference to new
arrivals in the Institution, but no infection could be
traced to that source. One girl made a statement that
fever had been present in the neighbourhood of her
home, and that some girls from the school which she
had been attending had suffered, but on communicating
with the Medical Officer of Health for the district, I
was informed that the fever then prevalent was Enteric
Fever and that no case of Scarlet Fever had been
notified to him for two years.
My attention was then directed to the milk supply,
and I was informed that all the milk, viz.:—about 80
quarts per day, was obtained from one company, and
that this had been brought to the Institution by one
man for some years. This man had been ill for three
days, viz.:—the 15th, 16th and 17th November, but it
was found that he had been suffering from an ordinary
cold. The manager of the branch had delivered the
milk on the three days above-mentioned. Inquiry was
made as to the health of these employees, but no history
of illness of any kind could be obtained.
The milk on being received at the Institution is
poured into large tin pails, and these are at once placed
in a steam chamber, and subjected to a temperature of
about l80° F. for 20 minutes. No milk is drank by any
of the inmates until after this process has been completed.
When removed from the chamber it is poured
by one of the maids into a large tin jug and poured from
it into the mugs of the girls at table. All the maids
and attendants who have to deal with the steaming and