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54
retail. No special churns were consigned to M, so it was
a matter of chance whether milk from any particular farm
went to M ot N. A list of the farms was obtained and the
Medical Officers of Health of the three counties communicated
with. No cases of enteric were found in connection with
any of the farms nor was there any prevalence of the
disease in the other districts supplied by the wholesale
company. No cases of enteric fever were notified among
any persons supplied by N. It thus becomes obvious that
if the milk was infected it must be after it came into the,
hands of M.
M's premisses consist of a small shop with kitchen and
scullery behind and a very small yard in which is situated
the w.c. and can shied. These premises were found to be
kept scrupulously clpan, and the drainage and water satisfactory.
Very littlie milk was kept at the shop; it was
brought therp to be emptied into M's own churns and then
taken away foT sale by cart or barrow. M, his wife,
female servant, and boy, were the only persons engaged in
the business. No illness was known to have occurred in
any of these persons. The boy (employed at the time the
first ease was notified has only been in M's service a few
days, and could not have been the source of the infection.
He had succeeded another lad who had left on the 12th
December after three months' service. Neither the address
nor name of the latter was known, but after some difficulty
he was discovered working for a dairyman in an adjoining
Borough. By the assistance of the Medical Officer of Health
of that Borough, samples of his urine and faeces were taken
and submitted for bacteriological examination. He was thus
found to be a carrier of paratyphoid B. bacilli. Further
bacteriological examinations of the milk and the patients