fourteen days old. It is also forbidden to kill animals which have been overdriven, before they have time to rest themselves and recover. "It is forbidden to sell putrid meat.

"The hawking of meat is forbidden, and so also is the sending of meat from one commune to another, except with the consent of the police.

"The inspectors are to take care that the greatest cleanliness is observed in the slaughterhouses, in the butchers' shops, and in the scalding and pork shops.

"They are to take care that no diseased meat is sold, salted, or smoked, or made into sausages.

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"They are to note the condition of the animal before slaughtering, and of the carcase after slaughtering; and rules are given for the principal matters to be noted.

"The following are the diseases which render the meat of an animal more or less unfit for food:

"A. Among Epizootic and Contagious Diseases.-Carbuncle; the cattle plague; gangrenous pneumonia; the hoof disease, among horned cattle, sheep, and pigs; erysipelatous fever among all species of animals; glanders among horses (horse-flesh is eaten); dysentery; parasytic diseases of horned cattle; hydrophobia among all species of animals.

"B. Among Sporadic Maladies. - All species of dropsy; all inflammations which result in gangrene; all cancerous and foul ulcers; all tubercular softenings of the lungs and liver; false leprosy of horned cattle; true leprosy of pigs, and cutaneous erysipelas; blennorrhoea of the vagina of cows; jaundice; poisoning of every kind; consumption in general.

"Nevertheless, if, after having destroyed the parts affected by the disease, the other parts are sound and wholesome, they can be sold in the following cases, after having been examined and carefully considered by two licensed veterinary surgeons:-Gangrenous peripneumonia; softening of the lungs and liver; slight inflammations; false leprosy; blennorrhoea of

cows.

"In cases of extraordinary symptoms of disease the inspector, if he is not a licensed veterinary surgeon, is to take the opinion and advice of a licensed veterinary surgeon.

"The execution of the ordinances relating to this matter rests with the préfet of police.

"Italy (Florence).

"It is forbidden to sell, to furnish, or to make any use whatever of meat prepared, raw or cooked, of animals, as the ox, sheep, goat, and pig, which have died, or have been killed, in a state of disease. They shall be buried immediately.

"No animal can be killed for food without having been first examined by the municipal veterinary surgeon, who resides in the public slaughter-house; and his decision is to be in accordance with certain rules made for the purpose. Due notice must be given to the veterinary surgeon of an intention to slaughter an animal.

"Meat is divided into three classes, namely :—

"Class 1.-Meat of the first quality, from animals in a perfectly healthy condition.

"Class 2.-Meat of animals not in a sound or normal condition, but fit for food.

"Class 3.-Meat not fit for food, as from animals in a high state of disease.

"It is the duty of the inspector to mark each of the first two classes of meat with a particular seal; all putrid meat, as well as the meat of the third class, is confiscated and buried.

"The milk of animals suffering from disease, especially from foot-and-mouth disease, is forbidden to be sold; and so also is milk showing signs of containing pus.

"All slaughtering must be carried on in the public slaughter-houses; and it is forbidden to send a slaughtered animal into the city without the carcase being entire, with the skin upon it and the viscera in it, and it must be conveyed to the public slaughter-house for inspection.

"In all cases of infectious disease among cattle the animals must be killed, and their carcases buried, and the waggons, utensils, &c. used in such cases must be thoroughly washed and disinfected.

geon, two expert or skilled inspectors, and a number of other free inspectors.

"The inspector - in chief has not only the general control and management of the slaughter-houses, but he, as well as the expert inspectors, is charged with the examination of the animals entering the slaughter-houses, and also with the examination of the meat before it goes out.

"The veterinary surgeon is required to attend at the slaughter-houses on market days, and to assist the inspectors in the examination of the cattle; he is also especially appealed to whenever there is any doubt or difference of opinion among the inspectors as regards the condition of the cattle or of the meat. The veterinary surgeon reports to the college of burgomasters and sheriffs whenever there is epizootic disease, and also on any facts relating to the public health.

"All beasts destined to be killed are first visited by the expert inspectors; and those animals which are known or suspected to be tainted with disease, and to be unfit for food, are put into the pound, in order that they may be disposed of in accordance with the rules relating thereto.

"After slaughtering and skinning the animals, they are examined internally by the inspectors, so as to ensure the proper state of the meat; and the viscera removed from the bodies of the animals must be so preserved as not to leave a doubt to which animal it belongs.

"All diseased meat, or meat suspected to be diseased, is provisionally seized, and placed in a special locality. It is dressed by the inspectors, and a report is drawn up stating the reason for its seizure, and its condition and quantity. This report is immediately sent to the commissary of police.

"The meat sent from the slaughter-houses must not be cut up in less than quarters.

"All meat seized by the inspectors is buried if it is not claimed in 24 hours; and when it is claimed, it is again examined by one of the expert inspectors of the abattoir and two free inspectors, and the meat is either given up, or buried according to the decision of the majority of the free experts.

"The charges of this examination are paid by the owner if the meat is unfit for food, and by the city if it is not unfit.

"When the slaughterer, or his assistants, finds during the killing or dressing of an animal, any signs of disease, he must give imme. diate information to one of the inspectors; and whenever he finds a fœtus in the animal, he is also to give notice to the inspector, who buries it; for it is forbidden to sell or appropriate a foetus for food, the skin only being given up to the owner.

"There are also regulations as to the time of killing, the mode of scalding pigs, of dressing the tripe, melting the fat, removing the offal, &c.

"And, with regard to the management of the cattle market, it is ordered that before the opening of the market, the animals shall be examined by the veterinary surgeon attached to the abattoir.

"In those cases where the veterinary surgeon considers the animal so diseased that it should be killed, and there is no opposition on the part of the owner, it is killed immediately; but where the owner contests the opinion of the surgeon, he can claim the intervention of the veterinary surgeon of his own selection. If the two surgeons are of a different opinion, a third is called in-the inspector-in-chief, who decides definitively. The cost of these examinations is to be borne by the party in the wrong.

"France (Paris).

"By a decree of the 9th of February, 1810, it was resolved to remove all the private slaughter-houses from Paris, and to conduct the business of slaughtering animals in five public slaughter-houses; namely, three on the right bank of the Seine, and two on the left, but they were not opened to the butchers of Paris until the month of September, 1818. From that time to the present there have been many regulations concerning this matter, and all these have been co-ordinated in the grand ordonnance of 25th of March, 1830. This ordonnance is composed of 301 articles, and it embraces the discipline and commerce of the abattoirs and boucheries of Paris; it is, indeed, a complete code of laws relating to this subject, and is always adopted as the regulations to be applied to new abattoirs in any part of France. These regulations are so nearly like the regulations already described as in force at Brussels, that they need not be reproduced.

"The summary of the regulations in force in the chief towns and cities of the Continent is :"1. That all markets are under strict supervision.

"2. That cattle sent to the public markets, and to the public slaughter-houses, are carefully examined by the inspectors or officers appointed for that purpose.

"3. That diseased cattle are carefully kept from healthy cattle, and are either destroyed or disposed of in such a way as to prevent their communicating disease to other cattle, or their being sold for human food.

"4. That in all large cities the slaughtering of animals is either conducted in public slaughter-houses, or is so regulated as to ensure the condemnation of diseased meat.

5. That to guard the public against the mischief which arises from the use or consumption of unwholesome meat, the animals destined for food are examined, not only before they are killed, but also afterwards.

"America.

"In the city of New York there are very stringent regulations for the inspection and management of slaughter-houses, butchers' shops, and public markets. In the first place, no one is permitted to carry on the business of a butcher, or to slaughter animals, or to deal in meat, without being licensed; and not only are the public markets under the control of the city inspectors, but every place for the sale of meat is appointed by the sanitary authorities. Among the regulations which are in force for the government of these affairs are the following:

It is not lawful to kill or dress any fresh meat of any description, in any market or place licensed as aforesaid, or occupied for the sale of meat; but all killing and dressing must be done in the licensed slaughter-houses.

"No butcher or other person shall sell, or offer, or expose for sale in any of the public markets, or in any part of the city of New York, any unwholesome or stale articles of provisions, or any flesh of any animal dead by accident or disease, or known or suspected to be diseased at the killing of the same.

"No person shall bring into any market, or the limits thereof, or offer or expose for sale, any blown, plaited, raised, or stuffed meat, or

"The general supervision of these matters is under the direction of the city inspector (as health officer), and the superintendent of sanitary inspection, and the superintendent of markets, whose officers regularly visit and inspect all slaughter - houses, meat shops, butchers' shops, poultry and fish stands, stores, or other places kept for the sale, or exposure for sale, of any kind of meat, poultry, fish, or any articles of provision or food, in any place in the city; and they seize and remove any and all unsound, unhealthy, putrid, or unwholesome veal, beef, pork, fish, poultry, or other article of food; and take all measures for the detection and prevention of the sale of all such unsound, unwholesome articles of food, and secure a strict enforcement of the laws and ordinances relative thereto; and they make full reports of the same to the superintendent.

"There are also regulations for the cleansing of the markets and slaughter-houses, and for the removal of blood, offal, and garbage from the latter directly after slaughtering, and for the disposal of all such matters, as well as diseased and unwholesome food, by the city contractor. The violation of any of these regulations is punished by heavy penalties.

"It would seem, therefore, that in almost every part of the world, the regulations for the sale of meat, the inspection of cattle, and the management of markets and slaughter-houses, are far more stringent and precise than in this metropolis; and it is to be hoped that the experience gained by the present outbreak of disease will lead to reformation in most of these particulars. As far as the city of London is concerned, there is a pressing necessity for the removal of all the slaughter-houses; for, as I have recently reported to you, they are situated in crowded localities, where they are not only in themselves a nuisance, but where they also encourage offensive trades-as bone boiling, fat melting, and gut spinning. There are 58 of these slaughter-houses in the City, and they receive about 5,400 sheep, 1,800 beasts, 420 pigs, and 400 calves every week. All these animals must be driven through the crowded streets, and the dung, and blood, and offal must afterwards be carried away. The annoyance from this is a frequent

subject of complaint, but you have little or no power to deal with it. Outside the walls of the City, the annoyance is still greater, for there the slaughter-houses are but rarely inspected. Often, indeed, they are filthy in the extreme, and no restriction is put on the slaughter and sale of diseased animals; in fact, most of the unwholesome meat that is sold in London is furnished from those places. Within the City, there is a daily inspection of all the markets and slaughter-houses, and much improper meat is in this manner discovered and condemned; but it in no way represents the amount of diseased and unwholesome meat that finds its way into the other markets. Within the last five years, your officers have condemned 946,944 lbs., or rather more than 420 tons of diseased and

putrid meat. It consisted of 4,289 sheep, 1,445 pigs, 272 calves, 6,074 quarters of beef, and 11,424 joints of meat, besides 1,917 head of game, and 13,748 head of poultry. Last year, the amount of meat condemned in the City markets was 247,827 lbs., and of this 124,614 lbs. were diseased, and 27,393 lbs. were from animals that had died from natural causes. A large proportion of this was condemned during the last quarter, and it consisted for the most part of meat from animals affected with the plague. The appearance of the meat is so remarkable that it is easily distinguished by the inspectors-it is not only wet and sodden, but it is also dark coloured, and looks like the flesh of an animal that has died with the blood in it. The characters by which unsound meat is recognized are the following:

"Good meat is neither of a pale pinkish colour nor of a deep purple tint. The former is indicative of disease, and the latter is a sign that the animal has died from natural causes.

"Good meat has also a marbled appearance, from the ramifications of little veins of intercellular fat; and the fat, especially of the internal organs, is hard and suety, and is never wet; whereas that of diseased meat is soft and watery, often like jelly or sodden parchment.

"Again, the touch or feel of healthy meat is firm and elastic, and it hardly moistens the fingers; whereas that of diseased meat is soft and wet-in fact, it is often so wet that serum runs from it, and then it is technically called 'wet.'

"Good meat has but little odour, and this is not disagreeable; whereas diseased meat

smells faint and cadaverous, and it often has the odour of medicine. This is best observed by cutting it, and smelling the knife, or by pouring a little warm water upon it.

"Good meat will bear cooking without shrinking, and without losing very much in weight; but bad meat shrivels up, and it often boils to pieces.

"All these effects are due to the presence of a large proportion of serum in the meat, and to the relatively large amount of intercellular or gelatinous tissue; for the fat and true muscular substance are to a greater or less extent deficient.

"If, therefore, a hundred grains of the lean or muscular part of good meat are cut up and dried at a temperature of boiling salt and water (224 degrees Fahrenheit), they lose only from 69 to 74 grains of their weight; but if diseased meat is thus treated, it loses from 75 to 80 per cent. of its weight. I find that the average loss of weight with sound and good beef is 72.3 per cent., and of mutton 71-5 per cent., whereas the average loss of diseased beef is 76.1 per cent., and of diseased mutton 78-2 per cent. Even if it be dried at a higher temperature, as at 266 degrees Fahrenheit, when all the moisture is expelled, and when good meat loses from 74 to 80 per cent. of its weight, the proportion of loss in bad meat is equally great.

"Other characters of a more refined nature will also serve to distinguish good from bad meat. The juice or serosity of sound flesh is slightly acid, and it contains an excess of potash salts, chiefly the phosphate; whereas diseased meat, from being infiltrated with the serum of blood, is often alkaline, and the salts of soda, especially chloride and phosphate, abound in it.

"Lastly, when good meat is examined under the microscope, the fibre is clean and welldefined, and free from infusorial creatures; but that of diseased meat is sodden, as if it had been soaked in water, and the transverse markings are indistinct and far apart; besides which, there are often minute organisms like infusorial bodies. These are very perceptible in the flesh of animals affected with the cattle plague, and Dr. Beale has described them as entozoa-like objects. They differ altogether from the parasites which constitute the trichina disease, and the measles of pork.

"How far the use of diseased meat affects the human constitution is unknown. In those cases where certain parasitic diseases exist in animals, there is no doubt of its injurious nature; for the tape-worm, the trichina, and certain dydated or encysted growths are unquestionably produced by it. Experience also. points to the fact that carbuncle and common boils are, in some degree, referable to the use of the flesh of animals affected with pleuropneumonia; and occasionally we witness the most serious diarrhoea and prostration of the vital powers after eating diseased meat. It is, therefore, safest to forbid its use; and it is at all times best to guard against the possibility of injury by having meat well cooked. It should be so cooked that the very centre of the joint should be exposed for some time to the temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The instructions of Liebig, in this particular, are hardly safe; for, although a temperature below that of boiling water may coagulate albumen, and develop the flavours of cooked meat, it may not ensure the destruction of dangerous parasites. It is, therefore, better to have the meat a little over-cooked than otherwise."

PUBLIC HEALTH.

Eighth Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council.

THE report contains valuable matter relating to vaccination, the distribution of disease in England, and the circumstances by which it is regulated, special attention being given to house accommodation of the poor; and on foreign epidemics of the year, and the general question of contagion in its bearings on the public health. Among the many documents the following is a report on the Rag Trade as regards the spread of contagious diseases, particularly smallpox, by Dr. Bristowe:

"1. Description of Rag Trade and of Rags.

"The various materials, which for convenience may be included under the general term of Rags,' are imported into Great Britain from almost every known country; they come hither even from Japan, from the Canary Islands, and from the most remote States of South America. But the chief

sources of importation are Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Belgium, and Holland. Foreign rags are received in various proportions at nearly all our ports, but principally at those of London, Liverpool, Grangemouth, Hull, Hartlepool, Newcastle, Grimsby, Leith, Aberdeen, and Teignmouth. Some of them are imported directly for, or even by, manufacturers themselves; but most of them are, I believe, disposed of through the agency of rag merchants. The bags containing them, however, are never opened in the docks; and very rarely are opened or even stored in the rag merchants' warehouses, being almost always transmitted, in the condition in which they have been imported, to those who purchase them for the purposes of their manufactures. Home rags also for the most part pass through the hands of the wholesale rag merchants, who are chiefly congregated in London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Bristol; but before reaching them pass (according to circumstances) through various other hands. Household rags (cotton, linen, and woollen) are constantly collected in small quantities by the innumerable marinestore dealers, who abound not only in all towns, but more or less over the whole country. By them they are sorted, and from time to time sold, either to collectors who stand midway between them and the wholesale merchants, or else to these merchants themselves. By the collectors the rags are yet more carefully sorted, so that by the time they reach the wholesale dealers their sorting has been in great measure completed. Rags, however, from workhouses, government establishments, and other places furnishing large quantities, are generally sold directly to the rag merchants by tender or by auction; and further, rag-using manufactories in rural dis tricts for the most part deal directly with the marine-store dealers of their neighbourhoods.

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