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66
The circumstances and conditions with regard to the tuberculosis in the food-animal which lead to
the production of tuberculosis in man are, ultimately, the presence of active tuberculous matter in the
food taken from the animal and consumed by the man in a raw or insufficiently cooked state.
Tuberculous disease is observed most frequently in cattle and in swine. It is found far more frequently
in cattle (full-grown) than in calves, and with much greater frequency in cows kept in town cowhouses
than in cattle bred for the express purpose of slaughter. Tuberculous matter is but seldom
found in the meat substance of the carcase; it is principally found in the organs, membranes and
glands. There is reason to believe that tuberculous matter, when present in meat sold to the public,
is more commonly due to the contamination of the surfaco of the meat with material derived
from other diseased parts, than to disease of the meat itself. The same matter is found in
the milk of cows when the udder has become invaded by tuberculous disease, and seldom or never when
the udder is not diseased. Tuberculous matter in milk is exceptionally active in its operation upon animals
fed either with the milk or with dairy produce derived from it. No doubt the largest part of the tuberculosis
which man obtains through his food is by means of milk containing tuberculous matter.
The recognition of tuberculous disease during the life of an animal is not wholly unattended with
difficulty. Happily, however,it can. in most cases, be detected with certainty in the udder of milch cows.
Provided every part that is the seat of tuberculous matter be avoided and destroyed, and provided
care be taken to save from contamination by such matter the actual meat substance of a tuberculous
animal, a great deal of meat from animals affected by tuberculosis may be eaten without risk to the
consumer.
Ordinary processes of cooking applied to meat which has got contaminated 011 its surface arc
probably sufficient to destroy the harmful quality. They would not avail to render wholesome any piece
of meat that contained tuberculous matter in its deeper parts. In regard to milk we are aware of the
preference by English people for drinking cows' milk raw, a practice attended by danger, on account of
possible contamination by pathogenic organisms. The boiling of milk, even for a moment, would
probably be sufficient to remove the very dangerous quality of tuberculous milk.
The Commissioners also added—
We note that your Majesty's gracious commands do not extend to enquiry or report on administrative
procedures available for reducing the amount of tuberculous material in the food supplied by
animals to man, and we have regarded such questions as being beyond our province.
A Royal Commission has since been appointed to deal with this question.

Dr. Frankland, in hi3 report to the Local Government Board 011 the Metropolitan water supply,
includes tables of which he thus writes—
Tables C. and D. are very important; they record the amounts of organic carbon and organic nitrogen
in each of the waters as determined by combustion with oxide of copper. Since these arc the only two
ingredients of the organic matter which can be accurately determined, these results are the only available
evidence of the relative proportions of organic matter present in the waters. The tables show that, whilst
both the Thames and Lee were occasionally considerably polluted with organic matter, the water actually
delivered by the companies drawing from these rivers, was only found to contain it in exceptionally large
quantity in the months of November and December, and this in the case of the Chelsea Company only in
December, and in that of the Southwark, Grand Junction and Lambeth companies, only in November.
The water distributed from the Lee by the New River and East London companies, on the other hand,
never contained an abnormal proportion of organic matter, and was generally throughout the year
superior to the Thames-derived waters of the Chelsea, West Middlesex, Southwark, Grand Junction and
Lambeth companies; the New River Company's water often rivalling or even surpassing the average of
the deep-well waters in respect of purity.
Dr. Frankland also gives in tabular form the results of his bacterioscopic examination of the
water supplied to London, and, referring to these tables, thus reports concerning the following
companies—
Chelsea Company.—"Except in February, the Chelsea Company delivered during the whole
year, water of a high degree of bacterial purity, rivalling in some cases deep-well water in
this respect. In the month of November, when the Thames at the intake contained no less than
29,260 microbes per c.c., this company's water, which was being pumped from the general filter wells
into the supply mains, contained only 20."
West Middlesex Company.—" Except in the months of January, February, and March, when
intense cold prevailed, this company delivered water of a high degree of bacterial purity, rivalling
that of the deep-well water of the Kent Company. In November the number of microbes was only
12 per c.c., when the raw water at the intake contained 29,260."
Southwark and Vauxhall Company.—" The filtration plants of the Chelsea and West Middlesex
Companies deliver the filtered water into general receptacles or wells, from which the samples for
bacterioscopic examination are drawn, and there is consequently no opportunity at these works for
obtaining separate samples from each of the filter beds. At the Southwark Company's works,