112 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



thousand animals passed from tlie South on that route. At Cairo the splenic fever ap 

 peared about the end of May, or beginning of June ; at Farina early in July ; at Tolono 

 on the 20th of July ; and thence, at later periods, usually dating five weeks from the 

 time the Texan cattle were driven upon the roads and pastures, where disease afterward 

 appeared. The majority of the cattle, amounting probably to ten thousand, were handled 

 by the railroad people at Tolono ; and Mr. Charles Troy ford, of that place, who had lost 

 forty-eight out of ninety-eight Illinois cattle by the disease, at the time of our visit, in 

 formed me that he had not seen a single Texan steer diseased, out of the whole ten thou 

 sand, the feeding, driving, and delivering of which he had personally superintended. 



From the commencement of my inquiries I had considered it highly probable that 

 cases of splenic fever would be found even among southern stock ; and rewards were of- 

 ered, at Tolono and elsewhere, to any one who would indicate cases alive or dead. Con 

 sidering that, wherever we traveled, the people whose stock had been destroyed were 

 anxious to furnish us the positive proof, if such could be obtained, it is remarkable that 

 not a single case was brought to our notice. 



I returned to Chicago, and again had occasion to inspect both Texan and Illinois 

 cattle in the slaughter-houses ; and having, by that time, ascertained the means whereby 

 even the latent forms of the disease might be discovered after death, I had no difficulty 

 in tracing lesions in steers reputed healthy, and slaughtered for human food. This infor 

 mation I communicated at once to Dr. Rauch, medical officer of health of the city of Chi 

 cago, who invited me to address a meeting of the board of health, on Tuesday, the 18th of 

 August ; and, as what I then stated is of material moment in the history of developments 

 made by me on this subject, I do not hesitate to transcribe, from the short-hand writer s 

 notes, the following passages : 



I was called upon, a fortnight ago, to reply to the question whether, if any of the flesh of the sick animals hap 

 pened to be sold, it was probable, that human beings might suffer ? I unhesitatingly asserted then what I repeat now 

 that the meat is not poisonous, and is incapable of injuring human beings. To that opinion I adhere. 



If I should be asked what regulations should be made by city authorities, in relation to the traffic in diseased meat, 

 I have simply to declare what I have said for many years past, viz., that it is impossible to draw a line between health 

 and disease, except as the two conditions are known to medical men; and, notwithstanding the apparent disadvan 

 tages of condemning more meat than there is any necessity for, it is essential that a sanitary officer should be supported, 

 on tlii) broad general principle that a diseased animal is an animal unfit for human consumption. 



The danger of an abundant supply of animal food, the produce of animals affected with Texan fever, has almost 

 passed. Some farmers and shippers have learned that it is not safe to send stock to such markets as these, and the 

 action of this, as of other boards of health, has no doubt been already beneficial. 



But any system of inspection now to be adopted must almost inevitably fail, if directed mainly to the condition of 

 live stock at the Union stock yards. 



It is in the slaughter-houses that a ready means of ascertaining the real condition of cattle can be secured ; and the 

 recognition of the Texan fever rests in the examination specially of the spleen, which is much increased in size, some 

 times before animals show any external signs of sickness. A medical inspector would likewise detect blood extrava 

 sations in the internal organs, nlcerations of the stomach, and, as the disease advanced, bloody urine ; but the most 

 satisfactory sign, for the purpose of meat inspections, is the condition of the spleen. The flesh of animals slaughtered, 

 when affected, shows no signs of morbid change, so that it is essential to examine the internal organs in order to draw 

 conclusions as to the condition of any carcass. 



On the 20th of August we left for St. Louis, Kansas City, and Abilene. We met 

 with cases of splenic fever in the first-named city ; but, from the manner in which the 

 Texan droves are segregated while awaiting their transfer to the cars at Kansas City, the 

 indigenous stock in that district was found healthy. At Junction City we found a herd of 

 sick cattle which had crossed the Texan trails at Salina, having been used in the West for 

 draught purposes. We proceeded to Abilene, the center of the shipment of Texan steers. 



