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Should the relation exist it cannot be accidental, and if in the
result it should appear that scarlatina is a disease of bovine origin,
there would be good grounds for hoping that in course of time it
may be exterminated. Meanwhile, the recent outbreak may be
cited as another reason for the advice so frequently given, so seldom
followed, that "milk should be boiled" before use. It may be
expected, moreover, to lead to greater care on the part of dairymen
in regard to the health of their cattle—greater care in
carrying out the requirements of the Dairies, Cowsheds, and
Milkshops Order of 1885. I am not acquainted with the terms
of the Regulations made under the Order by the Local Authority
for Middlesex, but it is obvious that if the requirements of the
Order itself had been complied with, the outbreak of human
scarlatina, if dependent on the milk supply, would not have been
so widespread, for not only is the Local Authority enabled
"to make Regulations .... for prescribing precautions
to be taken by purveyors of milk .... against infection
or contamination;" but it is expressly enacted in Section 15
of the Order that, " If at any time disease exists among the
cattle in a daily or cowshed .... the milk of a diseased
cow therein—(a) shall not be mixed with other milk, and, (b)
shall not be sold or used as human food." But the milk of the
sick cows at the Hendon Farm was mixed and distributed
with other milk, and is said not to have been diminished in
quantity. It may be hoped that, in the present instance, good will
come out of evil and a great public gain result from the inquiry to
which reference has been made.
Diphtheria, the mortality from which was in excess in
London as a whole in 1885, was the registered cause of 22
deaths in Kensington, or 1 above the corrected decennial average;
18 in the Town registration sub-district, and 4 in Brompton.
The deaths were of young children for the most part, 9 under
5 years of age, and 7 between 5 and 15, but nearly all of these
were nearer 5 than 15. The deaths from diphtheria, in 1884,
were 17, of which 8 occurred in the Brompton sub-district.
Not all deaths classified to diphtheria are really caused by this