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dangers arising from the use of contaminated milk, and the
facility with which this fluid may become contaminated, that
there is now a pretty general consensus of opinion as to the
necessity of such regulation.
It may be stated generally that disease in man may be caused
through the agency of milk; (1) By insanitary conditions in the
cowshed and in the dairy, viz., through the absorption by the milk
of sewer gas or the products of excremental decomposition; (2.)
by the pollution of water; (3.) by the use of improper or unwholesome
food for the cows ; (4.) by disease in the cows themselves;
and (5.) by disease derived from the employes in the cowshed
and dairy. The simple enunciation of the means by which disease
may be propagated, furnishes a clue to the proper subjects of byelaws.
These are (1) The position, construction, and sanitary
condition of the sheds, including questions of cubic and floor
space, water supply, lighting, ventilation, drainage, paving, &c.;
(2.) everything relating to the health and management of the
cows, including quarantine arrangements, the isolation of sick
animals, the quality and storage of the food; (3.) the sanitary
condition of the dairy and of the vessels used for receiving,
storing, and distributing milk; and (4.) the state of health of the
persons engaged in the conduct of the business.
In a paper read before the Society of Medical Officers of Health
last year (1875,) and since published, I submitted a suggestive
code of bye-laws based on the above views. The Society by
which the importance of the question is well understood, referred
the bye-laws to the Council, which reported them to be,
“with some slight alterations which have been made, suitable for
the purpose.” The Report of the Council having been adopted,
the bye-laws, which are subjoined, were published with the
imprimatur of the Society, and with the following introductory
note:—
"This Society has had under consideration the necessity for
placing cow-sheds and dairies, and the business of a dairyman,
under proper regulations. The subjoined rules embody the sanitary
principles which the Society would desire to see enforced.
"There is at present no power to make bye-laws on the subject:
but, in the expectation of early legislation conferring such power,
the principles desirable to be observed are here drawn up in the
form of bye-laws. Meanwhile, until the power of framing bye-laws
is given, the subjoined regulations will serve to indicate the conditions
the Society considers should be taken into account by sanitary
authorities, and magistrates who are concerned in the licensing
of cow-houses in London and other towns.
" The proposed rules are divided into two classes; the one class
comprising those regulations which in the Society's opinion are
proper to be insisted on in all cases; the other class comprising
those regulations which the Society regards as desirable to be