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22
chemical examination. I considered that the Committee
would not be satisfied, nor be prepared to take
any action, unless supported by the authority of men
of the highest scientific eminence.
I shortly obtained the result of the Analysis by
Professor Anderson and Professor Wanklyn, and of a
careful microscopical examination by Dr. Burdon
Sanderson, and learned that the milk submitted to
those gentlemen did not differ either chemically or
microscopically from ordinary healthy milk.
While I was not greatly surprised to learn this, I
was gratified to find, as being confirmatory of my own
view, that from the behaviour of one of the samples
(No. 2), Mr. Wanklyn had no hesitation in declaring
the milk to be unfit for food. I refer to the readiness
with which it "turned" or became sour; that is to say,
sample No. 2 in a very short time began to ferment
and to generate acid, showing that, while chemical
examination failed to detect any alteration, the milk
was nevertheless contaminated.
Mr. AVanklyn assured me that, though he had
examined more than a thousand samples of milk, he
had never seen one behave in such a manner before.
Dr. Burdon Sanderson noticed the same peculiarity in
the same sample (No. 2). I hoped to be able subsequently
to show conclusively from further examination,
that milk from cows infected with Foot and Mouth
Disease may not exhibit chemically or microscopically
anything different from ordinary healthy milk, but that
it possesses a marked proneness to putresence, and is
therefore tainted, and always unfit for food. The