INTRODUCTOKY AND GENERAL. 29 



That people should be deterred from eating meat that is 

 good, simply because it has not been bled is of compara- 

 tively little importance; the real danger of the error 

 lies in the assumption that the flesh of diseased animals 

 is harmless if only their blood be abstracted in the 

 death-struggle. 



In Germany diseased animals are often killed and 

 their flesh eaten. In certain localities these are killed 

 and their meat served up in the household, or for 

 the domestics and work-people. In other cases the flesh 

 of diseased animals is openly sold as meat of a reduced 

 value. In country districts there are no lack of pur- 

 chasers, who while knowing that the animals were not 

 thoroughly healthy before they were killed, believe that 

 the use of the meat will have no fatal eflect. 



According to the Prussian law relating to diseased 

 animals," those suffering from pulmonary complaints 

 may be slaughtered, and the flesh after it is properly 

 cooked may be sold ; but the slaughter must be effected 

 under the surveillance of a veterinary surgeon. 



In a great number of cases where the animals are 

 attacked with disease, they are secretly killed, and the 

 purchasers do not know they are buying diseased meat. 

 There are many butchers whose business it is to kill 

 animals in bad health. In many diseases to which 

 animals are subject, the flesh does not undergo any 

 change which renders it dangerous to human health, 

 or reduces its value as food. Frequently the slaughter 

 of the animal is due to the impossibility of a cure, such 

 for instance as the fracture of a limb, severe wounds, 

 &c. In certain internal diseases, which would ordi- 

 narily terminate fatally, it is found best to kill the 

 animal, and the flesh does not show, at least in the flrst 

 stages, any considerable change. 



The flesh of sheep attacked by the staggers, that of 

 ruminants suffering in the lungs without having had the 

 fever, and of animals showing symptoms of fractures, 

 &;c., can generally be used as food without danger. But 

 occasionally in these and other diseases, the flesh may 



