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upon four Justices of the Peace in Saint Pancras, and found they were not
available. I proceeded to Hendon with Professor Penberthy, and after
calling upon five Magistrates and driving a great number of miles, I at last
obtained a signature to the Order, and obtained admission to Mr. Y's farm.
Professor Penberthy examined the animals. I ascertained from Mr. Y, that
A, a milkman employed by him on the farm, on Tuesday morning, 17th
October, at 6.30 a.m. went away ill, and that it had been since ascertained
that he had Scarlet Fever. A lad B, fell ill on Sunday, the 22nd October,
with Quinsy; he was not a cowman, but he had occasionally milked and
worked on the farm.
On Sunday, the 5th November, I called on several London Magistrates, and
finally obtained a signature to the Order to enter Mr. L.'s Dairy, at Highgate,
and took with me Professor Penberthy. He then had 12 cows, four of
which had come in since the 30th October. The produce of these cows he
delivered as " Nursery Milk," and the surplus was mixed with the other
supply. He again stated (and I had no evidence to the contrary), that
amongst those customers who were exclusively supplied with " Nursery Milk,"
no Scarlet Fever had occurred.
In reference to the distribution of milk in Highgate, I learnt that Mr. Z.
had three sources of supply; (1) from his own cows, (2) from Finsbury Park,
(3) from Hendon.
(1) His own cows supplied him with Nursery Milk, and the surplus was
added to the Ordinary Milk. Six customers and their families were supplied
with Nursery Milk exclusively, no ordinary milk being delivered to them. No
case of Scarlet Fever occurred in the families of these customers.
(2) The milk from Finsbury Park was distributed in the afternoon on two
rounds only ; on the third round none of this milk was delivered, so that the
third round never received any of this milk. In the two rounds to which the
milk was delivered there are 191 customers, and there were eight cases of
Scarlet Fever amongst these customers, or 4.2 per cent.
(3) The milk from Hendon was delivered in all three "rounds" in the
morning; that is, to all the customers served with ordinary milk, but in the
afternoon was only delivered on one round, called the "street round," the
other two rounds being supplied with the Finsbury Park milk. In this particular
round, called the "street round," there were exactly 100 customers,
and there were 20 cases of Scarlet Fever amongst these customers, that is
20 per cent. So that out of a total of 28 cases amongst Z.'s customers, 20 or
71.4 per cent. of the cases occurred in this round, to which the ordinary milk
from Hendon was delivered, and from which the Finsbury Park milk was
altogether excluded.
Mr. Z. had a certificate from the Veterinary Surgeon of the London County
Council, to the effect that all his cows were in perfect health.
The above analysis showed, firstly, that the "Nursery Milk" from Z.'s own
cows was not the cause of the spread of the disease, because no case occurred
amongst those customers exclusively receiving it; secondly, that the Finsbury
Park milk was not the cause of the spread of the disease, because in the
round from which it was altogether excluded, the disease was spread nevertheless
; in fact, five-sevenths of the cases occurred in this round, therefore
taking these facts in conjunction with the events at Hendon, I was of opinion
that the milk delivered from Y's. farm at Hendon was spreading infectious
disease in Highgate.