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11
the view, could have been very dangerous after being used repeatedly
for rinsing the hands (it should be remembered that the carrier of
typhoid at Aberystwyth was a urinary carrier) did not appear to the
magistrate to warrant particular attention, as the following crossexamination
shows:—
Magistrate: "Anybody in this court could be a carrier of
disease ?"
Witness: "Yes."
Magistrate: "You could be a carrier of disease ?"
Witness: "Yes . . ."
Magistrate (interrupting): "Any person in any ice-cream shop
in the City of London could be a carrier of disease."
That the arrangements for washing should be such as to make
it possible, or probable, that anyone serving ice-cream, whether
a carrier or a person in the early stages of infectious disease or convalescent
from infectious disease, should have not only visibly
clean hands but hands, so to speak, bacteriologically clean as
regards pathogenic bacteria harboured by the vendor, was obviously
considered irrelevant by the magistrate, and it is that line of thought
which is leading to the registration of premises which are, from the
point of view of the possibility of infection, unsatisfactory.
Subsequently, the magistrate reversed his decision; not,
however, upon the grounds that the sanitary accommodation and
washing facilities were inadequate, and, therefore, if the vendors
happened to be ill their hands might cause infection, but upon the
other important circumstance that the shop was a greengrocer's
and so, without any unusual carelessness on the part of the vendor,
portions of earth or other matter might cause contamination.
The difficulties encountered by local authorities in administering
the Food and Drugs Act arise largely from the uncertainty
of the interpretation to be placed upon the words "reasonable
distance of," "suitable washing basins," "sufficient supply,"
etc. The meaning one would like to apply to these provisions from
the public health point of view is that there should be no difficulty
in keeping clean, but the legal construction placed upon these words
is, apparently, "is it possible to keep clean ?"
The most hopeful aspect of the present situation is that the
ice-cream trade, judging by comment in "The Ice Cream Industry,"
a journal of the trade, is by no means satisfied that all premises now
being registered are, in fact, suitable for the purpose.