Sept. 2, 1908. J Agricultural Gazette of N.S. W. 7 j3 



EUIMJURGH AND EaST OF SCOTLAND COLLEGE OF 



Aghiculture. 



Lectures on the Meat Ii]dustry 



The aljseiiff of any s^'steniatic instiau-tioii in connection with the meat 

 infkxstry has often been remarked, and, when it is borne in mind that the 

 use of meat as food is universal, this is all tlie more to ])e wondered at. 



There is scarcely any trade which does not see that its members have 

 oppoi-tunities foi- studying the technical details of their business, and such an 

 industry as butter-making, which, like the meat industrv. is oidv a develop- 

 ment of agriculture, occupies the pi-incipal place in the svllal)uses of our 

 agricultural colleges. 



There is every reason why the meat iiuhistry in all its nuiltifarious 

 branches should take as high a place and should form the subject of con- 

 tinuous and systematic study ; and at the moment tliere seems to be a general 

 desire on the part of those most interested, namely, the meat traders them- 

 selves, that such opportunities should exist. 



Tliere has not, liowever, so far been any orjjanised attempts to translate 

 this feeling into a definite project, and it is thei-efore interesting to know 

 that a scheme has just been arranged whereby education in connection with 

 the meat trarle will, for the first time in the United Kingdom, be placed upon 

 an acadeuiic basis. This scheme owes its inception to Professor Robert 

 Wallace, of Kdinburgh LTniversity, -dwX Principal of the East of Scotland 

 College of Agriculture, Edinburgh. It is at the latter place that it is pro- 

 piosed to inaugurate the scheme by the establishing of a lectureship on the 

 meat iiKJustry. Tliis has now been practically arranged, and the lecturer 

 a^^pointed is Mr. Loudon M. Douglas, whose writings in connection with the 

 meat industry are well knou ii. 



The series of lectures arranged will take jilace during next wintei-, and will 

 embrace references to the history of the meat trade and its modern develop- 

 ments, together with detailed accounts of tlic \arious departments of the 

 industry, the construction of abattoirs, the laws afi'ecting the handling of 

 meat, the diseases of animals used in the meat trade, pickling, preserving and 

 otherwise utilising meat, with an account of th(- chemistry and baceriology 

 of the subject. Cold storage, in theoiy and practicf. will also foi-in the 

 subject of many references. 



On the whole, the course proposed will aim at giving a thoiough account 

 of rhe industi-y. so as t<i form the inti-oduction to the higher studv of the 

 subject in future sessions. 



As this is the tirst attenijit of the kind which ha> been made, many will 

 view it with great interest, and more especially those who may contemplate 

 the orjfanisation of a similar scheme in their own localities. 



