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11
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
. The sanitary condition and water supply of the 4 elementary
schools in the district were good throughout the year.
No school was closed by reason of infectious diseases during
the year.
FOOD.
, Milk:—Milk is of all foods the most important in that it
contains the whole of the chemical constituents of man's diet,
viz., protein, carbohydate, fat and mineral salts ; and these in
forms most easy of digestion lt is the only proper food of
very young children, and of adults when suffering from various
diseases. It is a highly delicate compound; an excellent
medium for the growth of bacteria, many of which rapidly
decompose it; and a most efficient vehicle of certain infectious
diseases. In England to-day the production of milk on the
dairy farm, its transport to the towns, its distribution to the
consumer, and its treatment in the home of the consumer prior
to use, are all far from ideal, especially in the matter of cleanliness.
In a word, the bulk of the milk on the market is dirty
and much of it old. It is only too frequently drawn from dirty
cows by dirty hands into dirty vessels, and finally taken into
dirty homes where it is further contaminated. A milk churn
or milk can may appear to the ordinary observer quite clean
and yet contain bacteria which in a few hours, in warm
weather, will wholly destroy the milk. Everybody should be
interested in the problem of clean milk, and insist on obtaining
it. This is not a matter for the medical officer of health and
public health committee only, but for every member of the
community. The production and distribution of clean milk is
a business requiring on the part of the workeissome education
in the life l istories of certain germs, and the constant application
of this knowledge at every step in the work from the
first appearance of the milk on the farm to its consumption in
the home. And withal in the hands of the right kind of
teacher I know of no more fascinating or absorling subject
for study.
Any boy or girl of average intelligence in the leaving class
of the elementary school could follow, and follow with intense
enjoyment, a simple demonstration of the action of certain type-,
of bacteria on milk, the important role played by temperature,
time, etc., etc. Education rather than legislation is the one
thing needful in this matter. Only when the public understand
the n eaning of clean milk will they demand it, and only
then will the milk dealer supply it.
The milk of Harrow is no worse than that of other
districts.