io6 RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG 



experts are constantly engaged in microscopically examining 

 the blood and tissues of suspected animals ; and also a most 

 Interesting museum of morbid specimens. As all the animals 

 are examined by veterinary surgeons before and after they 

 are killed, the Petersburg public are safeguarded from 

 infection carried by meat, which is a privilege that the British 

 taxpayer does not enjoy. The manner of distribution is the 

 only detail of the working of the Petersburg abattoir with 

 which I can find any fault. When the animals are killed and 

 cleaned out, instead of being hung up for at least twenty-four 

 hours in order that they might get cold and stiff, they are 

 immediately cut up and the joints thrown into a cart for 

 distribution among the various butchers' shops in the city. 

 We must here bear in mind that the life of the tissues 

 continues for some hours after the death of the animal, as we 

 may prove by stimulating the nerves post-mortem. Conse- 

 quently, diseased changes are set up in meat which shortly 

 after death undergoes injury, such as that inflicted by throwing 

 it about and by the shaking these joints incur during their 

 rough transit over the cobble stones of the Petersburg streets. 

 The flaccid and unhealthy appearance of meat which has 

 been subjected to this treatment is positively disgusting ; but 

 custom is a mental though not a physical antiseptic. 



