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source of samples purchased from retail dealers;
moreover, the tubercle bacilli may possibly be of
human origin, having gained access to the milk owing
to careless handling.
Middlesex Open-Air Sanatorium
At the present time it is extremely difficult to find accommodation
in any of the existing special hospitals, and even
when a patient is fortunate enough to obtain an admission
order, it is usually only after a long wait, and not infrequently
the disease has by then advanced to a stage at which permanent
benefit can scarcely be expected to result from any treatment.
Further provision is urgently needed, and it should be on a
scale sufficient to permit of patients being admitted at an early
stage and given prolonged treatment. It should also be
possible to admit patients in a comparatively advanced stage,
with a view to teaching them the simple and necessary precautionary
measures they should observe so as to avoid being
a source of infection.
As yet there seems little likelihood of the proposed OpenAir
Sanatorium for Middlesex becoming an accomplished fact.
More than two years ago certain public authorities, including
the Finchley Council, agreed to establish and maintain beds
in the event of sufficient money being subscribed to enable the
Sanatorium to be started, but the support given to the scheme
has proved quite inadequate.
School Hygiene.
Each week reports are sent to me of all fresh cases of nonnotifiable
infectious disease, and when an epidemic is prevalent
my visits to the schools are frequent. At other times the
general sanitary condition of the buildings is kept under observation,
but only under special circumstances are any of the
children medically examined.