CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 169 



that bad and corrupt meat was thrown into the Tiber; to the church 

 law published in the tenth centnry against the consumption of diseased 

 meat ; to the ancient laws of Italy, France, Spain, and Germany against 

 the sale of diseased meat, and to tlie more modern statutes on the same 

 subject. He quotes from Ziickert (1775) the case of the deatli of twelve 

 students from eating the flesh of cows of which the viscera were cov- 

 ered with a great number of vesicles, tubercular nodules, and purulent 

 tumors. In furnishing such meat for the soldiers a French butcher was, 

 in 1716, condemned to nine years' exile, a tine of £5,000, and permanent 

 prohibition from engaging again in the same trade. 



A German law of 173li imposed a penalty of 50 rix thalers, with the 

 addition, in certain cases, of corporal punishment for the sale of such 

 meat or for evading its inspection. About 1704 the doctrine of the iden- 

 tity of tuberculosis and syphilis was contested by Zink, Euhling, Heim, 

 Graumann, and Zwierlein, and the German law was abrogated while 

 that of Lower Austria was moditied so as to condemn only advanced 

 cases. In Southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland the meat of 

 tuberculous animals has always been more or less forbidden. In the 

 main, however, it is only advanced cases, those with jirolound and ex- 

 tensive lesions, that have been condemned. The same has been the 

 case for France and Belgium. France was the first, in 1810, to abolish 

 private slaughter houses in large and medium sized cities, and to intro- 

 duce that essential condition of all effective inspection — muuicipal abat- 

 toirs. Later this has been adopted by nearly all the cities of Europe 

 and a thorough inspection rendered possible. 



Cooking of diseased meat in general was held by Payen, Renault, 

 and others to render it innocuous. Its value as regards tubercular prod- 

 ucts was first investigated by Gerlach, who also led in the inquiry as 

 to the danger from the different portions of a tubercular system. He 

 found that the morbific matter resided mainly in the tubercle, from 

 which it spread slowly along the lymphatics to the next lymphatic 

 gland, and then still along the same vessels to more distant glands 

 and finally it became generally distributed. He further attached much 

 importance to the multiplicity of caseous centers, especially in the 

 lungs, as the breaking down of the nodosities as well as the extension 

 and increase in numbers of the tubercles imjjly a greater danger of the 

 contamination of the flesh. Emaciation is another indication of the 

 general action of the poison. A very advanced condition of any one of 

 these morbid states should forbid the use of the flesh as food. 



The A'eterinary Council of Germany (1875) and the J>ei-lin Veterinary 

 School (1878) respectively pronounced on the subject with great reserve, 

 virtually holding the matter still siih judice. .rohne held that the mere 

 extension of tuberculosis from the first seat to the neiahboriug lym- 

 phatic glands did not imply unwholesomeness in the flesh, and that it 

 was only requisite in such cases to cut out the tubercles, enlarged or dis- 

 eased glan<1s and adjacent coniie(;tive tissue. lie pronounced tiie flesh 



