London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kingston upon Thames 1897

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kingston-upon-Thames]

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15
Dairies and Cowsheds.
These have been inspected as usual, but I am
sorry to say, with few exceptions, little has been done
to bring them up to the modern standard. With such
a delicate article of consumption as milk, dairymen
ought to endeavour to do something more than comply
with the very moderate requirements of the law.
The main points to be considered are: —
1.—Sufficient Cubic Space per Cow.—With
overcrowding cows are very liable to
Tuberculosis, a disease which is probably
frequently communicated to children
through the milk, yet cowkeepers require
constant supervision to see that
they are not keeping more cows than are
allowed by the Cowshed and Dairies
Order.
2.—Means of Cleanliness.—In some cases the
room is rather cramped and the arrangements
inconvenient, but by the exercise
of due care no danger should arise from
this cause.
3 —Means of Cooling.— It is most important
that milk should be cooled in order that
it should keep well and be rendered less
liable to the attacks of bacilli. Only one
dairyman has a refrigerator at his dairy,
but one other has one at the farm where
his cows are kept in summer. Various
chemicals are used in the trade to
preserve milk, but though the sale is
large no dairyman has ever been known
to confess to their use. These compounds
are known under various fancy
names, as glacialin, formalin, Jack Frost,
preservitas, etc. These are probably
injurious, more especially to young