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not be answered off-hand, so much depending, as I pointed out to
the Committee, on the age of the consumer, on the quantity consumed,
and on the length of time during which the use of the
article is continued. I cannot doubt, however, that it would be
injurious to an infant to consume fourteen grains of the acid daily,
the quantity presumably present in a quart of milk to which the
" preservative " has been added. I should not like to say, moreover,
that boracic acid may be used, for any length of time, in
quantity barely sufficient to "keep" milk for 24 hours, in close
weather, without risk of injury to the health of infants entirely
fed upon such milk. A communication on the subject was
addressed by your Yestry to the Local Government Board, wLo, in
their reply, stated that they had no facts within their own knowledge
which would enable them to advise generally as to the
wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of additions of boracic acid as
a preservative of food. The question has yet to be decided whether
or not the addition of boracic acid constitutes an "adulteration"
of milk or cream.
THE METROPOLITAN SEWAGE QUESTION.
In my Annual Reports for 1885 and 1886, I referred, under
the heading "Metropolitan Main Drainage," to the steps taken
by the late Metropolitan Board of Works to clarify and deodorize
the sewage of the metropolis before its discharge into the river;
well-founded complaints having been made with regard to the
condition of the river resulting from the introduction of enormous
volumes of crude sewage. I mentioned also that the Board, in
order to prevent nuisance within the metropolis, arising from the
discharge of offensive gases from the sewer ventilators, were
adding disinfectants at numerous stations, to the sewage as it
flowed through the main sewers. It was hoped that this plan
would ensure the arrival of the sewage at the outfalls in a
deodorized condition, and thus assist in the production of a
satisfactory effluent; the object of the Board being to avoid the
necessity for costly land filtration of the effluent, as recommended