244 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



method which appears to be entirely satisfactory, and will, it is 

 believed, be of ^rcat value not only to the laboratories of this bureau 

 but also to all others enga^^ed in food-control work. The method is 

 described in Circular 180 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 



The laboratories are frequently called upon by veterinary inspec- 

 tors to determine the presence of bile pi^^ments in fats from animals 

 which are suspected of being aiTected \N'ith jaundice. The laboratory 

 inspector at East St. Louis, Mr. C. T. Marsh, devised a method by 

 which the bile pio^ment may be separated from the fats and a positive 

 diagnosis in doubtful cases of jaundice may be made. This work 

 has not yet been published. 



Laboratory inspection of lards from certain packing houses showed 

 regularly a positive Halphen test for cottonseed oil, tne amount indi- 

 cated by the test being quite small and therefore impossible of detec- 

 tion by the phytosterol acetate test, even though cottonseed oil had 

 been added to the lard. An investigation of this subject has shown 

 that this cottonseed-oil reaction was due not to adulteration, but to 

 the feeding of hogs on garbage which contained cottonseed products, 

 chiefly cottonseed oil. It is known that large quantities of cotton- 

 seed oil are used in salads and for baking and cooking generally, and 

 it is not surprising that the fat of hogs fed on garbage shows a 

 Halphen reaction, as it has been previously known that the feeding 

 of cottonseed meal will produce this result. The work leading to 

 this discovery was carried out by Mr. R. H. Kerr, of the Washington 

 laborator}^, and Mr. A. E, Graham, of the San Francisco laboratory. 



A bacteriological study of hog carcasses was made with the object 

 of determining whether or not hog cholera bacilli or related organisms 

 belonging to the Bacillus enterltidis group were present in the car- 

 casses of hogs which at autopsy showed lesions or hog cholera. The 

 work was carried out at Chicago and Washington, and included a 

 ])acteriological study of four classes of hog carcasses, namely, normal 

 carcasses which showed no cholera lesions, carcasses with slight lesions 

 of cholera which had been passed for food, carcasses with more exten- 

 sive lesions of cholera w^hich had been passed for lard, and carcasses 

 showing extensive lesions of cholera and which had been condemned 

 for ofFal. The carcasses in the second, third, and fourth groups cor- 

 responded to those specified in paragraphs 1,2, and 3 of section 10, 

 regulation 13, of the meat-inspection regulations (Bureau of Animal 

 Industry Order 150), and w^ere obtained from packing houses in the 

 course of routine inspection. Cultures were taken from practically 

 all parts of the carcass, including the liver, spleen, kidneys, lymphatic 

 glands, heart muscle, and voluntary muscle. 



The results of this investigation showed that organisms of the 

 colon-typhoid group were almost constantly present in the livers of 

 normal hogs, but seldom in the other tissues. In the case of hogs 

 affected with hog cholera, colon-typhoid organisms were not only 

 present in the liver, but were quite generally distributed through the 

 other tissues as well. There appeared to be little, if any, difference 

 in the occurrence and distribution of colon-typhoid organisms in the 

 three classes of cholera hogs studied — that is, colon-typhoid organ- 

 isms were present as frequently in the organs and tissues of carcasses 

 showing slight cholera lesions as in the carcasses showang extensive 

 cholera lesions. No organisms of the Bacillus enterltidis or so-called 

 hog cholera group w^ere found. The organisms referred to as belong- 

 ing to the colon-typhoid group presented the usual characters of the 



