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19
PUBLIC ANALYST'S REPORT.
TO THE ST. SAVIOUR'S DISTRICT BOARD OF
WORKS.
Gentlemen,
In the past year I have examined 108 articles of food,
and nine in duplicate, therefore 117 in all.
Milks amount to 60 in number, and of these nine were
adulterated, or at the rate of nearly 15 per cent. This is a great
improvement and I record it with pleasure. One case was of
unusual interest, as the Vendor of No. 71 had attempted the
substitution of a false sample. Thinking that the case would be
decided at Somerset House by the milk left with him, he boldly
challenged my analysis and insisted upon his sample being forwarded
to Somerset House. Mr. Errington's sample was found by the
Government Chemists to be similar to mine and the Magistrate
at the Southwark Police Court imposed a heavy fine for the
attempted fraud.
It is worthy of record, that the Chemists at Somerset House
had given the case as an adulteration with at least 22 per cent.,
that which I had given as 24 per cent. The milk was more
than three weeks old, and the judgment is formed on the hypothesis
of a regulated deterioration. This is the first occasion, according
to the "Analyst," that so perfect an agreement has been come
to between the Government Chemists and the Public Analysts.
We have only had two really bad cases of milk adulteration
in the year ending Lady-day 1879, a wonderful contrast between
the time when the Act was first passed, and the present.
Besides the 60 milks, I have analysed one sample of Norwegian
Condensed Milk and one Anglo-swiss. Considering how very
largely these milks are used by mothers, I hold it as a