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unwholesome meat to the City markets. The sale of diseased meat in the Holborn district, in the
immediate vicinity of, but outside, the Central Meat Market, was under the consideration of the
sanitary authority, attention having been called to the matter, the medical officer of health states,
"in Parliament, the London County Council and the press, and by the City Commissioners of
Sewers."
The sanitary authority had before it proposals with offers of assistance by the City Commissioners
of Sewers and Dr. Sedgwick Saunders, and eventually decided to appoint a special officer for the
purpose of food inspection, who began his duties on the 1st January, 1896. In the last six months
of the year 1895 considerable quantities of meat unfit for human food were seized and destroyed ; the
medical officer of health states that " there have been a great many prosecutions this year, and there
are many others about to be prosecuted."
In Mile-end Old-town in July a seizure was made by the medical officer of health of a large
quantity of tins of meat and a number of large tins of corned beef, salmon, and lobster unfit for food.
In October " further seizures were made and proceedings instituted, with the result that two defendants
were sentenced at the Old Bailey to six months imprisonment with hard labour, the Recorder referring
to their guilty knowledge, and to the large extent to which the trade had been carried on.
In St. Olave, among other articles of food, 2,672 tins of meat were destroyed.
The Manufacture and Sale of Ice-cream
References are made in some of the reports of medical officers of health to the manufacture and
sale of ice-cream by itinerant vendors, and several London sanitary authorities, among them the Vestries
of Hammersmith and Bethnal-green and the District Boards of St. Giles and St. Saviour Southwark,
decided to unite with the Vestry of Clerkenwell in making a representation to the Local Government
Board asking for legislation to provide for the registration of vendors of ice-cream, and for the regulation
of the conditions under which ice-cream is manufactured. Similar action was taken by the Society
of Medical Officers of Health. In reply, the Local Government Board suggested that evidence on the
subject should be offered to the Select Committee on Food Products Adulteration. It is stated, however,
this Committee decided to receive no more evidence.
The unwholesome conditions under which this trade is often conducted is referred to in the report
of Dr. Hoyle, who acted as temporary medical officer of health of Holborn, and who says that the trade
is largely carried on in the Italian colony " under circumstances the reverse of hygienic." The medical
officer of health of Poplar found tins used in the manufacture stored near the water-closet in a covered yard
leading from the sleeping room. The Clerkenwell Vestry submitted samples of ice-cream to Dr. Macfadyen,
who reported on the subject generally, and expressed the opinion that " the present state of affairs
undoubtedly constitutes a source of danger to the health of the children of the poorer classes by whom
the ice-creams are mainly consumed."
A subject bearing on that of ice-cream manufacture is the collection of ice from the London
canals in winter. Such ice is in the main used onlyforfreezingpurposes in various trades, but the medical
officer of health of Poplar thus writes concerning it: " It seems to be a practice with ice-cream
vendors to collect ice from docks, canals and ditches for freezing purposes, but it has transpired that
ice forms an ingredient of what is known as ' water ice,' which is also sold in the streets. In two of
the premises large quantities of ice were found to be stored in cellars. The ice in one of the cellars I
visited had been taken from the Millwall Docks; it was very dirty and looked like pieces of coal, and
it occurred to me that should any of it—which was very likely—be mixed writh the ice-cream there
would be pollution at once."
The medical officer of health of Paddington referring to the same subject says, " during the
winter of 1894-95 large quantities of ice were taken from the canals, and it was thought that the use
of such ice derived from water of a highly polluted character would lead to a large amount of enteric
fever. The experience of the year has not justified these fears. The bulk of the ice stored in this
parish is used in the manufacture of ice-cream by the Italians. From inquiries made it appears that
no ice enters into the composition of ice-cream, and that it is used solely as a freezing mixture with salt.
The vessels in which the cream is kept are of sheet metal, with lids that fit as closely as they can be
made to do. In making ' water ices,' rough ice is sometimes used, but such ice must be of the cleanest
description, or else the ' ice' is too uninviting to be sold."
The effect of Food derived from Tuberculous Anima ls.
In the year 1890 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire and report—
"What is the effect, if any, of food derived from tuberculous animals on human health; and, if
" prejudicial, what are the circumstances and conditions with regard to tuberculosis in the animal which
" produce that effect upon man."
In the year 1895, the Royal Commission issued their report, which contain 3d the following
recapitulation—
We have obtained ample evidence that food derived from tuberculous animals can produce tuberculosis
in healthy animals. The proportion of animals contracting tuberculosis after experimental use of
such food, is different in one and another class of animals; both carnivora and herbivora are susceptible,
and the proportion is high in pigs. In the absence of direct experiments on human subjects, we infer
that man also can acquire tuberculosis by feeding upon materials derived from tuberculous food-animals.
The actual amount of tuberculous disease among certain classes of food-animals is so large as to
afford to man frequent occasions for contracting tuberculous disease through his food. As to the
proportion of tuberculosis acquired by man through his food or through other means, we can form no
definite opinion, but we think it probable that an appreciable part of the tuberculosis that affects man is
obtained through his food.
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