252 Professor Sheridan DeUpine [Feb. 13, 



the chances of infection, and how desirable it was that in the interest 

 of manufacturers of comestibles, and more especially of the public 

 generally, the sanitary authorities should be in position to regulate 

 the preparation of food exposed to contaminations. 



On inspection of the premises where the fatal pies had been pre- 

 pared I found that opportunities for pollution were numerous. I may 

 enumerate them as follows : — 



1. The meat, hung in an entrance passage, was exposed to 

 occasional contact with persons and pigs going into the yard. 



2. It was also exposed in the same place to dust from the street 

 and from the yard. 



3. The dust from the yard, ichich was used as a 'passage by men and 

 animals (and where there were accmmdations of refuse), ivas liable to be 

 blown into the chopping -house where the meat and jelly were prepared, 

 also through ground level gratings into the cellar where the jelly was 

 often left for several days. 



4. Live pigs were kept in the slaughter-house for at least one day, and 

 sometimes for a longer time, before being slaughtered ; the excreta of 

 these pigs were allowed to gravitate towards a gutter in the centre of 

 the slaughter-house, so that a pig affected with infectious enteritis 

 would have soiled the floor of the slaughter-house. After being 

 scalded, the carcase of the pig had to be hung over the same gutter, 

 and as it was transferred from the tub to the hook some of its parts 

 frequently touched the ground. The nature of the cleansing which 

 followed permitted of the carcase and its parts being smeared over 

 with a thin layer of filth, possibly not noticeable to the eye. 



6. The men employed in the abattoir passed from there to the chop- 

 ping-house, where the meat was chopped or minced and where the 

 jelly was prepared. They soiled the floor with their boots, which 

 had come in contact with excreta in the slaughter-house. It was 

 said that they changed their boots and washed thoroughly, but I found 

 no evidence of their realising the great importance of special care in 

 that matter ; and I saw that the floor of the chopping-house, which 

 had recently been washed, was being rapidly covered with soil at the 

 time of my visit. 



6. The tub where the bowels and other parts were soaked, wasiri close 

 proximity to the mincing-machine. — It was the usual practice to clean 

 bowels in the chopping-house.* 



7, The jelly-tins or bowls, and the scoops used for taking jelly 

 out of the copper, were either regularly, or at least frequently, laid on 

 the floor of the chopjping-house. The vessels in which jolly and meat 

 were placed remained frequently on that floor for hours. 



* Some of the water from a bucket containing the bowels was obtained by 

 Dr. Howartli. This water had a dirty appearance. In order to find out whether 

 this water might be fairly considered" a constant possible source of pollution, I 

 tested it for the presence of the bacillus coli, and found that this organism was, 

 as expected, present in large numbers. 



