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71
In the case of Sample No. 1923, the County Council were at
once communicated with, and informed of the address of the
vendor, who in this instance happened to be a cowkeeper within
the Borough. At the same time word was sent to this vendor,
informing him of the condition found, and asking him to have his
cattle examined and exclude any with a suspected udder from
the milk supply until he heard further. A couple of days later
we heard that the County Council's Veterinary Inspector had
found the cow suffering from tubercular mastitis, and the animal
was at once taken away and killed. I gathered from the cowkeeper
that this particular animal had a few weeks prior to the
taking of the sample shown signs of failing health and lung
trouble, and that he had really only been waiting for a visit from
the County Council's Veterinary Inspector in order that he
might have her condemned and get compensation. In the other
instances the milk vendors concerned responded most loyally
and had examinations made of their cattle by medical men,
bacteriologists, and veterinary surgeons. In a few instances
exception was taken to the findings of the Council's
Bacteriologist in the cases where pus was stated to be present
in the samples. Your Bacteriologist relies entirely on the
results of a differential count of leucocytes which he states is
based on accurate physiological and pathological data. To
quote from a letter received from him :—
". . . . Milk produced from a perfectly healthy and
"normal udder may contain at different periods very widely
"different numbers of cells. These cells in health are
"colustrum corpuscles and lymphocytes, with an occasional
"polymorphonuclear leucocyte.
"Leaving aside the colostrum corpuscles present in health,
"the ratio of lymphocytes to polymorphonuclear leucocytes
"is about 20-1. As soon as any inflammatory lesion arises,
"either in the ducts or in the acini of the gland, the number
"of the polymorphonuclear leucocytes steadily increases, the
number of the lymphocytes remaining constant. By the
"time the inflammatory process is fully established the pus
"cells are in excess, and it is absolutely certain that if in any
"given specimen of milk the deposit contains polymorpho"nuclear
leucocytes in the proportion of 20 or more to each
"lymphocyte, the milk is coming from an inflamed or
"partially inflamed udder."
"All the published statistics dealing with the cellular con"tents
of milk have overlooked this very important feature.
"My own paper on the subject, published in the year 1899,
"drew attention to this principle, but I had not at that time
"fully worked it out, as I had not discovered a process for
"making it readily evident, but during the last few years