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cases was received daily, and by November 18th they had
numbered nearly 100, which were distributed mainly, in about
equal numbers, over Church End and East Finchley. North
Finchley was affected only to about one-third of the extent
of these other districts, and in Whetstone there were only two
cases.
"In investigating such an outbreak one first turns to
unhealthy odours, such as may arise from defective sewer
ventilation, from sanitary defects in households, and from
accumulations of dung, manure, and other putrifying organic
matter. I failed, however, to find any condition that could
have proved operative in the production of serious cases of sore
throat, nor anything to explain why Hendon Lane should have
suffered more than any other part of the district.
"It was impossible to accept the theory that any climatic
conditions alone could have been responsible for the outbreak,
although these had been sufficiently remarkable. In addition
to the excessive variations in rainfall and temperature, the
humidity of the air had averaged 90.4 per cent, of complete
saturation. These atmospheric conditions, especially in the
autumn of the year, and in a district naturally somewhat cold
and damp by reason of its clay soil, would be expected to give
rise to sore throat, and it undoubtedly did so; but the sore
throat under investigation was something more than the sore
throat generally brought about by those conditions, and, moreover,
it was at first restricted to a small area of the District.
"The reasons that impelled me to attribute the outbreak
to milk infection were the following:—
"1. It was easy to my mind to exclude all other conditions
to which an epidemic of such throat illness has
ever been ascribed.