34 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS, 



victims long since. The "Veterinarian," and other 

 publications have discussed this subject from time to 

 time. 



We can never realise to its full extent the effect of 

 the process of cooking in destroying organic poisons, 

 which in their natural state might exert a deadly in- 

 fluence on our organism. 



Take game, winged or other, say a partridge ; before 

 cooking it appears almost in a state of decomposition. 

 On the table, after proper cooking, it is splendid. Who 

 would like to eat venison fresh ? Unless kept until in a 

 high condition it is uneatable. 



Certainly the flesh of animals which have died of 

 anthracoid diseases, has proved actively poisonous when 

 eaten in the raw state, but when sufficiently cooked has 

 been perfectly innocuous. Of the fact that there is a 

 large consumption of diseased meat, viz., the flesh of 

 animals affected with pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and-mouth 

 disease, and various febrile affections, no doubt can be 

 entertained by rational people, and it is readily admitted 

 that no obvious mischief results from eating such food ; 

 the evidence, in fact, of the unwholesomeness of the flesh 

 of diseased animals is absolutely nil. It is quite true 

 that the idea of eating diseased meat is distasteful — 

 to a sensitive stomach it may be nauseating — but the 

 fact remains, that, with few exceptions, there is no 

 proof that the meat is really deleterious after it has 

 been submitted to the action of fire. 



The Irish Cattle Trade Defence Association, was at 

 great pains lately to obtain professional testimony to 

 prove that the flesh of animals affected with pleuro- 

 pneumonia may, under certain conditions, be used with 

 impunity as human food. 



That we habitually eat the flesh of diseased animals, 

 there can be no reasonable doubt. Whether we suffer 

 by it, and if so, to what extent, are questions which have 

 not been satisfactorily answered. Our knowledge of this 

 subject is very imperfect, and we have but little trust- 

 worthy data to guide us. There are, however, some 



