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14
mainly confined to West Plumstead. The number of cases
notified in the three preceding years respectively was 22, 29
and 26. The first case of the epidemic was notified on the
9th May, at a public house in Plumstead Common Eoad, and
two more on the 11th. On this day I was informed by Dr.
Clarke, of Plumstead Common Eoad, that he had several suspicious
cases in his practice. I visited two of these, and had
no hesitation in pronouncing them to be Enteric Fever. On
the whole I had information on the 11th of six recent cases of
Enteric, and five of them derived their milk supply from the
same source, a dairy in Princes Road. (I found afterwards
that the sixth case also had milk from the same source, though
from a different dairy). I felt no doubt accordingly that I had
an epidemic of Enteric Fever to deal with, and that in all
probability it was conveyed by the milk supplied from the
Princes Road dairy. I at once inspected this dairy. It contained
thirteen cows, all apparently in good condition. The
Kent Company's water was laid on. Although not kept in a
very cleanly condition, the only thing which excited my suspicion
was a tank about three feet square and two feet deep,
situated under a tap, and used for watering the cows. Evidently
this tank was seldom cleaned out, and in all probability was
used for washing the cans into which the cows were milked,
if not also the churns.
23. I waited till the 13th, on which day I knew of 16 cases,
15 of which were found to have had milk from the Princes
Road dairy. The evidence now seemed sufficient to incriminate
the dairy, and a special meeting of the Health Committee was
summoned for the following day. This meeting decided, on
my recommendation, to put in force Section 71 of the Public
Health (London) Act, and gave notice to the dairyman to
appear the next day before them and show cause why the
dairy should not be c losed.