DISEASES OF SWINE 553 



the goods mentioned were microscopically inspected and found free 

 from trichina?. On one occasion a carload of bacon arrived at the 

 custom-house of Aix la Chapelle, the certificate of which was with- 

 out the red stamp. The custom-house officers refused to let the car 

 enter Germany and reported the case to the buyer at Diiren. This 

 man wrote to the Antwerp firm that he refused to accept said car, be- 

 cause he was entitled to receive the meat regularly inspected, as re- 

 quired by the German laws. The seller at Antwerp replied that, in 

 fact, the meat in question had been regularly inspected microscop- 

 ically, and it was by mistake that the certificate did not bear the red 

 stamp ; that such an error happened sometimes, but that the United 

 States consul in Antwerp would rectify the certificate if the buyer 

 would return it for that purpose. Unfortunately for the Diiren mer- 

 chant, he believed this story, sent the certificate back, and received it 

 again two or three days afterwards bearing now the red stamp. He 

 presented this document at the custom-house at Aix la Chapelle, in. 

 order to have the carload entered into Germany, but the custom- 

 house officer had reported first to the American consul at Antwerp, 

 and when he learned that the consul had neither changed the certifi- 

 cate nor had been authorized to do so, the entrance into Germany was 

 refused and the buyer placed under accusation of having falsified a 

 public document. After several years, the suit terminated in the 

 supreme court in Leipzig with a sentence of the Diiren merchant to 

 eight days' imprisonment for assisting in the falsification of a public 

 document. The Belgian merchant, of course, could not be prosecuted 

 in Germany. 



American Hams in Germany. Hon. John A. Barnes, United 

 States consul at Cologne, furnished the Department of State an article 

 from the Stadt Anzeiger, of Cologne, bearing upon the sale of Amer- 

 ican hams in Germany. The article is as follows : "The chief mayor 

 publishes the following notice: American hams have been brought 

 into the market which were painted with boracic acid in order to pre- 

 serve them. Although they were carefully washed before being of- 

 fered for sale, the meat was strongly impregnated with boracic acid 

 and crystals of borax had formed on the bone, as was shown by the 

 results of the chemical examination. Now, the court of correction 

 has declared, on the basis of opinion of experts, that the boracic acid 

 is a poison liable to injure the health of human beings. It is there- 

 fore not permitted to keep on sale or sell meat that is preserved with 

 boracic acid, and all those who act against this order will be pro- 

 ceeded against according to the imperial law of May 14, 1879, touch- 

 ing the trade of food." 



The consul states that in Germany hams are cured by what is 

 known as the "wet process." The following ingredients are required 

 in this process: Boracic acid, 30 per cent; nitrate of potash, 30 per 

 cent; and common salt, 30 per cent. It would seem, therefore, as Mr. 

 Barnes says, that "boracic acid in American meat is 'poison/ while 

 in German product it is, we must infer, palatable and healthy." 

 (B. A. I. 15th A. R.) 



