Reference NumberTF/3
TitleCartoon 222 - Registered Dairy
DateFebruary 1908
Creator NameFitzpatrick, Thomas, 1860-1912
DescriptionIllustrations of a scene at an unhygienic dairy yard.

The problem of unhygienic dairies and contaminated milk was acute in this period. In 1878, 67 cases of typhoid fever occurred in Fitzwilliam Square and surrounding areas. Cameron was able to trace the outbreak to a dairy where two cases of the disease had occurred, and the spread to contaminated milk. The Lancet stated that this research would be a 'classic case'. As the cartoon shows a number of diseases could originate from unhygienic dairy yards including tuberculosis (the white plague), consumption, measles, smallpox, diphtheria, and typhoid fever. Cameron was active in campaigning for improved conditions in dairy yards, and was probably partly responsible for the decline in numbers of such yards from 1,100 in 1886 to 226 in 1914.
Extent1 item
Digital CollectionsView online in our digital collections
Image useImages can be used for non-commercial purposes, with attribution, under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Credit LineRoyal College of Physicians of Ireland
TermPublic Health
Milk
Food Contamination
Infectious diseases
Diphtheria
Tuberculosis
Typhoid fever
Smallpox
Persons
CodePersonNameDates
DS/UK/1027Cameron; Sir; Charles Alexander (1830-1921); medical officer, chemist and writer1830-1921
DS/UK/2813Fitzpatrick; Thomas (1860-1912); Cartoonist1860-1912
Places
CodeSet
NA5Dublin/County Dublin/Ireland
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