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obtained, as an incidental result of an altogether interesting
investigation, the means of renewing our sources of vaccine
supplies from the animal whose milder form of the disease is
capable of affording almost perfect protection against the
virulent small-pox of man.
The connexion between localised outbreaks of scarlet fever
and the consumption of milk had been well established by
repeated experiences, but previous to Mr. Power's enquiry
above referred to, the dissemination of the disease through
milk had always been attributed to the contamination of the
milk by the introduction of scarlatinal poison of human origin ;
either from the milker's hands or by absorption when the milk
had been stored in an infected place—a condition of things
entirely different to that prevailing at Hendon, where there
was no suspicion of scarlatina among the employes at the
Dairy, and where the sanitary arrangements appear to have
been satisfactory. It may be asked, then, how are we to
guard against the spread of scarlet fever, if it be true that the
disease of the cow in the Hendon outbreak was related to that
of man as cause is to effect ? Well, consumers may make
themselves secure by following the oft-repeated advice to boil
their milk. For the rest, we must trust to the good sense of
milk producers, who in these days, when sanitary knowledge
is permeating all classes, may be expected to take an increasing
interest in the preservation of the health of their stock ; and,
above all, to the strict performance of their duty by Local
Authorities, who are responsible for the due carrying out of
the provisions of the Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order,
which enable them to make regulations for prescribing precautions
to be taken by purveyors of milk against infection or
contamination, and which enacts that " if at any time disease
exists among the cattle in a dairy 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."