The relation of milk to the epidemiology of certain diseases, such as diphtheria, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, etc., has been quite definitely established. The close association of epidemic sore throat to an infected milk supply, although recognized by English physicians for some years past, did not attract attention in this country until the recent study by Winslow,1 of the Boston epidemic in 1911. A detailed analysis of 1,043 cases gave strong presumptive evidence that the original source of the epidemic was milk contamination. Winslow arrived at the following conclusions: The milk from a single dairy was the channel of distribution for the epidemic, and although no acute cases among the dairy employees were encountered, a carrier case presumably infected the milk.
Other epidemics of a similar nature have been reported in this country. Capps and Miller2 have studied in detail the Chicago epidemic of 1911 and 1912. A