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37
investigating the new and promising fields of research that are
opened by the recent experiences of Hendon."
But the views of the investigators have not remained without
challenge, the first note of which was sounded in a Report by Mr.
J. Wortley Axe (Professor of Pathology at the Royal Veterinary
College, and Consulting Veterinary Surgeon to the British Dairy
Farmers' Association), dealing as supposed with the eruptive
malady now commonly spoken of as the " Hendon cow-disease."
Professor Axe's report, which bears the imprimatur of Professor
Brown, C.B., Professional Officer of the Agricultural Department
of the Privy Council, treats of the malady as being at once
common, well known among farmers, innocuous, and having no
relation to human scarlatina. He cites facts to prove that milk
from other dairies infected by cows from the same herd as those
which infected the Hendon cows, was supplied to the public, at
the same time, and in various localities, without evil effect, but,
it may be added, contrary to the provisions of the Dairies
Order. The conclusion therefore arrived at by him was
that the London epidemic of scarlatina in December, 1885, due
doubtless to the consumption of the Hendon milk, " had its
origin in some obscure source connected with the Dairy by
channels which inquiry has failed to reveal." But it must
be added that Professor Axe did not see the incriminated
herd during the critical period ; his inquiry came subsequently,
and his conclusion being deduced from the statements of persons
who may not unfairly be regarded as interested in minimising
the gravity of the deductions arrived at by Mr. Power
and Dr. Klein. Professor Axe, moreover, makes no reference
to the pathology of the cow-disease, which, however, he admits
to be contagious, and to have the power of protecting its victims
from a second attack. Mr. Power and Dr. Klein had already
admitted all that the Professor asserts of the apparently harmless
character of the malady as it affects the cow ; but while Dr.
Klein shows that the inoculated disease in calves is followed