114 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



out of tlie whole ten tliousaiid; the feeding, driving', and delivering of 

 whicli lu' had personally superintended. 



From the coninieneenient of my in(juiries, I had considered it highly 

 probable that eases of splenic fever would be found even among south- 

 ern stock; and rewards were ottered, at Tolono and elsewhere, to any 

 one who would indicate cases alive or dead. Considering that, wher- 

 ever we traveled, tlie people whose stock had been destroyed were most 

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

 remarkable that not a single case was brought under 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 wherel^y even the latent forms of the disease 

 might be discovered after death, I had no ditticulty in tracing lesions in 

 steers reputed healthy, and slaughtered for hunuiu food. This infor- 

 mation I communicated at once to Dr. Ranch, medical officer of health 

 of the city of Chicago, who invited me to address a meeting of the 

 board of health, on Tuesday, the 18th ot August; and, as what 1 then 

 stated is of material nujment in the history of developments made by 

 me on this subje(;t, 1 do not hesitate to transcribe, from the short-hand 

 writer's notes, the following passages : 



I was called upon, a foitniglit ago, to reply to the question whether, if any of the 

 flesh of the sick animals happened to be sold, it was probable that human beings 

 might sufier 1 I unhesitatingly asserted then, what I repeat uow, that the meat is not 

 poisonous, and is incapable of injuring hunian beings. To that opinion I adhere. 



If 1 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, notwithstantling the apparent 

 disadvantages of condenuiing nun-e meat than there is any necessity for, it is essential 

 that a sanitary officer should be supported, on the broad general principle, that a dis- 

 eased animal is an animal unfit for liuman consumption. 



The danger of an abundant supply of auinuil food, the xiroduce of animals aifected 

 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 systtmi 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 slanght<u--h()uses 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, sometimes before animals 

 show any external signs of sickness. A medical inspector would likewise detect blood 

 extravasations in th<" internal organs, ulcerations of the stonuich, and, as the disease 

 advanced, l)l(Midy urine; but tlu^ most satisfactory sign, for the purpose of meat inspec- 

 tions, is tin- condition ol' the spleen. The flesh of animals slaughtered, when aifected, 

 .shows no signs of morliid change, so that it is essential to examine the internal organs 

 in order to draw conclnsions as to the condition of any carcass. 



On the 20th of August we left for St. Louis, Kansas City, and Abi- 

 lene. We met with cases of splenic fever in the tirst nanunl 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 



