VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 591 



VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 



The country slaughterhouse as a factor in the spread of dis- 

 ease, C. W. Stiles (U. 8. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1896, pp. 155-166). — 

 This article is based upon the inspection of the slaughterhouses of 2 

 States. Although definite figures can not be given for the State, it was 

 found that the number of such houses varies in different towns from 1 

 to Tii to 1 to 1,000 inhabitants. The slaughterhouses found the author 

 divides into 2 classes: Large abattoirs located in cities and local 

 slaughterhouses used by meat dealers in country towus. The latter 

 are not always owned by those who do their own killing. 



In the majority of cases hogs are kept in connection with the slaugh- 

 terhouses to dispose of the offal. Where houses are on the banks of a 

 stream the offal is thrown out on the bank and left to be eaten by vari- 

 ous animals, to rot, and drain into the river. Naturally slaughter- 

 houses are centers of disease. Some of the animals killed are certainly 

 diseased, and if the offal is fed to hogs these can not escape. Eats 

 and dogs also are important factors. If the former are eaten by hogs 

 trichinosis is a fairly certain result, as shown by the examination of 

 147 rats, showing over 27 per cent infected. If the slaughterhouse 

 chances to be burned the rats wander away, carrying disease with 

 them. 



Besides trichinosis, tuberculosis, and the parasitic Echinococcus hyda- 

 tid, which seems to be on the increase in this country, the thin-necked 

 bladder worm, the gid bladder worm, and the tongue worm, swine 

 plague, and hog cholera are apt to be spread by such feeding. 



To obviate the dangers arising through offal feeding, drainage, rats, 

 and dogs, the segregation of slaughterhouses and the control of the 4 

 factors concerned in spreading disease are advised. Offal feeding 

 should be abandoned. The drainage should be perfect. Eats should 

 be destroyed and dogs not allowed in the slaughterhouse. The build- 

 ings should be more substantial, the floor and the pavement of the 

 yard should be of asphalt. Every local board of health should have a 

 competent veterinarian, and the slaughterhouses should be licensed and 

 be supervised by a veterinarian. The raising of stock, except horses, 

 within the premises of such houses should be prohibited, and the farmer 

 who kills his own beef should bury or burn the offal. It is on the 

 farmer's account that such precautions are most necessary, since he is 

 more subject to the dangers involved in the slaughterhouse than others. 



The restriction of tuberculosis by isolation and the use of 

 affected animals for breeding purposes, H. L. Eussell ( Wiscon- 

 sin Sta. h'/>t. 1896, pp. 127-133). — Some general remarks upon the sub- 

 ject are made and a record given of a series of experiments that are 

 essentially a repetition of those of Prof. Bang of Denmark, as embodied 

 in his report before the International Hygienic Congress of 1894 at 

 11931— No. 6 7 



