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always taken on the farms where milk is produced to
secure the most scrupulous cleanliness in the vessels
containing the milk, and in the returned empty milk
churns, as well as in all the surroundings of the milk on
the farm, and of the cows themselves. (2) The Committee
are advised that the holes in the cone in the centre
of the lid of a milk churn are essential to allow the
escape of steam, vapour, or gases of any kind which may
be disengaged from the milk during transit; but, in the
opinion of the Society's scientific advisers, these holes are
scarcely worth consideration as a means of the possible
contamination of the milk through the agency of the air.
(3) A more likely source of contamination is to be found
in the too common practice of sending milk by railway in
churns with loose lids. Milk which may be splashed out
round the lids during a journey, or whilst the churns are
being moved about railway platforms, may wash away
the dust and other impurities which accumulate on the
surface of the lid, and may carry them back into the
bulk of the milk in the churn ; and in this way it is quite
possible that tubercle bacilli might gain access to the
milk in the churn through the medium of the dried
expectorations of consumptive persons in railway stations,
streets, or other public places. (4) This danger, however,
may be guarded against by sending milk by railway in
locked or sealed churns, the lids of which are tight.
There appears to be still considerable misapprehension
amongst farmers as to the willingness of railway companies
to accept for transit over their lines milk churns
thus locked or sealed, although it is a regular practice
by farmers serving some of the leading milk-distributing
companies in the metropolis. The railway companies
have undoubtedly favoured the system of sending churns
with loose lids, on the ground that examination of the
contents by the railway officials was thus facilitated ; but
the Dairy Committee of this Society, having had their
attention drawn to the matter, passed on January 31st,
1899, a resolution 'That the present custom of sending
milk in unsealed churns is unsatisfactory, inasmuch as it
exposes the farmer to the risk of having his milk tampered
with during transit.' Communications were opened
with the railway companies, and an assurance was received
that at a meeting held at the Railway Clearing-house on
May 10th, 1899, all the companies had agreed that they
would not refuse to accept milk churns ' sealed,' provided
the conditions under which the companies accept such
cans were adhered to. These conditions are thus defined