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27
to accept an office, upon the intelligent exercise of
which, not unfrequently the lives, and always the
reputations of my Fellow-Parishioners may depend.
The due discharge, however, of the functions of
this office, depends not alone on the skill of the
analyst. He requires a proper office and apparatus
to carry out his investigations. He should have
instructions from those who have appointed him to
investigate occasionally all articles of food consumed
by the community, whether they be rich or poor.
An announcement of his appointment should also
be made as widely as possible, so that both vendors
of articles of food and drink and the public should
know that such an officer exists. The fact of
adulteration should be treated as criminal, and
whatever is done in the way of police, to detect and
punish thieves who steal property alone, ought to
bo done with much more rigour to detect the
adulterators of food, who not only steal the money
of the public, but rob it of its health and life.
There are several other subjects to which I might
allude, which have been brought before you during
the year 1860, as the state of the cow-houses and
slaughter-houses; the supply of water from the
surface wells; the ventilation of public buildings;
the inspection of the workshops, especially the bakohouses,
of the Parish; and the cleansing of the
dwellings of the poor; but as these are subjects of
recurring interest, and I have already occupied
considerable space, I will, with your permission,