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diseased. But even where they are not in a state that would be
usually considered diseased, there is reason to think that the milk of
oows kept constantly in close confinement in ill-ventilated sheds and
fed constantly on grains and wash instead of fresh green food is
unwholesome especially to young children. A medical friend of mine
informs me that his own child constantly suffered from diarrhoea and
pain, so long as it was fed on the milk of stall fed cows, but that
these symptoms subsided at once on the substitution of milk from a
cow at grass; he has also noticed similar circumstances with many
other children. Other medical men hare had similar experience.
The obvious physical characters of the milk are not it is true
much affected by the mode of keeping the cows. I have examined
several specimens of milk brought directly from cows kept in some of
the closer sheds; when the animals are fed on wash this may usually
be detected by the smell. The quantity of cream is certainly rather
above than below the average, and the amount of solid matter
generally is not diminished. I have not found, as stated by some,
that the reaction is less alkaline than that of oountry milk. None of
these things, however, prove that the milk is wholesome. This
question is certainly one on which additional evidence would be
valuable.
Another method in which the diseases of cattle affect the health
of man is by supplying the market with diseased meat. There is
abundant evidence to show that as a rule the flesh of all cows, however
diseased they may have been, is sold in some shape or other as
human food. The flesh of animals in some states of disease is probably
not injurious; but with other diseases it is most pernicious.
Present regulations afford little or no security against the consumption
of the worst kinds of meat. It is true that the Sanitary Inspector
has power to seize any meat exposed for sale which he considers to be
unfit for food, and meat of this kind has been frequently seized by
your Inspector; but in the first place it is impossible for any one,
however experienced, to distinguish many portions of the flesh of a
diseased beast, unless he can see the whole carcase; and again, in a
district so extensive as this, it is impossible for one man whose time is
fully occupied with other duties to do much towards a regular and
constant inspection of nearly a hundred slaughter-houses, besides all
the butchers and sausage-makers' shops. I believe, however, that for
the most part the quality of meat sold in this Parish is far superior
to that sold in many parts of London.
Another evil of the present state of things is the direct nuisance
arising from the sheds and yards. Within the past twelve months
several distinct cases of injury to health from these places have